


Getting To Know You

by booabug (allthisink)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chloé Character Arc, Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Friendship is Magic, Identity Reveal, Origins Spoilers, Slice of Life, author has mild allergy to angst, author memes hard, author nerds out hard, no ponies involved (yet?) but just FRIENDSHIP, post-reveal, sin-free zone, sleepover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-06-03 18:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6621076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthisink/pseuds/booabug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Primarily Adrinette fluff, some DJWiFi, and overall love for our main four squad. Comedy all the way! I'll add tags, characters, and edit this summary as things come up. Take my hand and let's go on this magical journey together~  ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ</p>
<p>Title is after the classic showtune from The King and I. Listen to it if you haven't! Or, you know, again if you haven't in a while. It's a lovely song. (Honestly should have named the fic after Singin' In The Rain, though)</p>
<p>Rating for language/profanity, occasional suggestive language. In my attempt to give Nino a more distinct voice than in the show, I accidentally gave him my own tendencies, like to swear an awful lot. I'm sorry.</p>
<p>
  <span class="small">[Story no longer updated]</span>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter Nino of "????"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino is confused and a little frustrated with his best friend. His girlfriend also confuses him. Overall, he has a big case of the ????s

Nino loved his best friend. Really, he did. Adrien was one of the nicest guys he'd ever known. Hell, he didn't know if he'd be half so outgoing now if he didn't start acting that way for his friend's sake. That didn't mean he wouldn't openly tell you the boy was dense as a brick and frankly, weird. Not just sheltered homeschooled richboy weird. Truly 'what is even _going on_ with you' weird.  
  
Then again, it all must trace back to inferiority complex, daddy issues, and who the hell knew what else this poor innocent child had going on so he could cut him some slack. Still, for someone raised to carefully maneuver high society's crazy mind games? Who took a personal interest in theoretical physics?  
  
"I just don't get why she can't talk to me like she does everyone else," Adrien said after finishing off his third sandwich. He reached in the paper bag for a fourth and took a bite, chewing moodily as he looked over the park they were chilling at over lunch. How the hell did this boy eat as if a black hole dwelt within him and _still_   make Nino want to take him home to shove every bit of leftovers from the fridge into his maw? This boy looked in danger of flying away in heavy wind.  
  
He continued, "I've been thinking about it, I don't think I intimidate her or anything. At least, I shouldn't? She didn't particularly care when I first came to school. Unless... She started seeing me as my father's son? She wouldn't be the first person father intimidated by proxy."  
  
Bruh.  
  
"But she's super nice! She compliments me a lot. Then again, if she was scared, she would want to be in my good graces."  
  
Oh my God.  
  
"That's the only thing I can think of. Arrrgh, how do I get past that, though? Getting out of father's shadow is like... Like... Trying to get off Namek, you know what I mean?" he chuckled to himself.  
  
This fucking weeb. "No, actually, I don't. Dragonball joke, right?"  
  
"Yeah, you see, they spent so many episodes on the planet Piccolo is from because it was being terrori-"  
  
"Dude, don't start," Nino rubbed his eyes. "Soooo... Why the sudden interest in Marinette anyway?"  
  
The implication was lost on Adrien. He began with arm movements to illustrate, "You're my best friend, and Alya's her best friend, and you two are close now, so I should be closer friends with her! Besides, other than you, she... she was my first friend at school. She actually made me laugh, really laugh. I can't remember the last time I did before then."  
  
"No kidding. How'd that happen?"  
  
Adrien smiled with a little embarrassment, hunching up his shoulders. "Well, it was raining, so I gave her my umbrella aaand while she was holding it, it closed on her."  
  
His smile turned into a full grin just remembering it.  
  
"She laughed too, a little. That was really great and I've always wanted for things between us to be like then. And now, she's finally coming around to talking with me normally! You know, when... When she's done panicking. And she's mostly got her mind on something else like a project or something. There's hope, right? That we can be friends?"  
  
"Uh-huh. Friends. 'Closer' friends. Like Alya and I are close."  
  
This time he got it, choking on his bite of sandwich so Nino had to slap his back. After a lengthy coughing fit and a few gulps of water, Adrien was able to sputter out, "Dude, it's not like that!"  
  
Nino put an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Come on, bro, I been there. You know that. Not only do I get it, I see that you got it."  
  
"Nino, you _know_ I wouldn't think of her like that, not when I'm already-"  
  
"Ladybug trash?"  
  
Adrien sighed. "I wasn't going going to say that, but, if you want to put it that way, yeah. I guess."  
  
"Don't think I forgot how you just fucking shoved me aside to see her when the whole Jackady thing happened," Nino raised his head and quirked a brow down at him. His friend had the decency to look abashed. "You can like more than one person, you know. That's a thing people do. You're people. Besides, it'd be better to set your sights on someone more on your level, know what I'm saying? The idea of actually getting _the_ Ladybug to date you is kinda whack, even for you, Mr. Agreste."  
  
Mr. Agreste smiled mysteriously in a picture perfect expression of obscured sorrow and unspoken things, because that's how he does. Looking skyward, In a voice to match, he said, "I guess you're right, Nino. I guess you're right."  
  
What the fuck was going on with this guy.

 

* * *

  

"He's an idiot," Nino said, leaning against the locker next to Alya as she got her things. She gave him a sympathetic look. She had never told him outright who Marinette's crush was- girls' honour- but once he wasn't hung up on her anymore, it became as obvious as it should be to Adrien now.  
  
"I know, babe," Alya kissed Nino on the cheek. They'd already been together a few weeks and that was just a peck, but it still made him smile like a goof and want to pull the brim of his hat down a bit. "My girl's still pretty hopeless but we gotta keep trying, right?"  
  
She pulled on her bag and he put an arm around her shoulders as they walked to class.  
  
"Anything for our best buds," he agreed. "But good lord, it is so painful. Painful! We're gonna have to step up our game 'cause clearly, those two have none."  
  
Alya laughed and bumped her hip against him affectionately. "So true. It's just that I'm out of ideas, I've been at it the whole year."  
  
"Well," Nino paused. "Adrien did mention something. One reason he wants to get to know her better is 'cause Mari made him laugh for real back when I was like, his only friend. Which is pretty amazing, homeboy pretty much never laughs at school, only when it's just us."  
  
"Damn, that really sounds like something we can work with," Alya rubbed her chin. "What did she do to make him laugh?"  
  
"Apparently, she was holding an umbrella and it closed on her," Nino grinned.  
  
Alya started laughing hard. "Oh my God, that is so her. You know, sometimes I wonder if it's just her luck or if she got it from-"  
  
She stopped in her tracks. Nino raised his brows. "Hon? I know you have a plan, but I can't tell what that plan is if you don't verbalize it."  
  
"Hush."  
  
"Alright." Was he like, just magnetically attracted to forming close relationships with the strangest people or what?  
  
"We're having a sleepover," she said, intense.  
  
Yeah, he must be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty short (for me) but it seemed like a good stopping point for our starting point. Y'all best prepare your bodies for a sleepover.


	2. Ballin' and Fallin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter while I work on the decidedly not short sleepover chapter(s). Just bros being bros and realization (finally) setting in.

Apparently, Nino's family had sent all his childhood sports equipment to family in Morocco once it became apparent he wasn't... very athletically inclined. Thankfully, as students in good standing, they were allowed to borrow a basketball for lunch break. Their usual park had a court no one ever used.  
  
"Telling you, bro, this is going to be the opposite of an ego boost for me," he said.  
  
"Oh come on, you have a height advantage. I can tell the reason you don't even try in gym is because you're self-conscious. You'd do way better if you just did!" Adrien insisted. Nino just slouched and looked skywards. He hated seeing his friend unsure of himself. Putting a hand on his shoulder, he said, "It'll just be us, don't worry."  
  
"Eh, my Dad does get on my back about my gym grade, I guess."  
  
"See? It's worth a _shot,_ you could _score points_ with him."  
  
He was rewarded with the highest compliment clever wordplay can receive: groans.  
  
Knowing Nino would use a full stomach as an excuse to bail on the idea, they got right to it. He was just as awkward as in class at first, but seeing that no park goers were paying attention and that Adrien wasn't very good either loosened him up. Neither of them could even dribble the ball well, especially when one tried to get it from the other. The ball would get dropped and roll a little ways away, but they'd continue doing their crouched, confrontational little dance of blocking each other from... nothing, really. Didn't stop them from trash talking each other.  
  
"Try and get it, punk, try and get it."  
  
"Oh, I'm the punk? _/Im the punk?_  I'll kick your tall ass."  
  
"We're like the same height, stupid."  
  
"My tall ass will kick your tall ass."  
  
"Nuh-uh."  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"Will not."  
  
"Will so."  
  
The trash talk was vicious.  
  
They eventually gave up on dribbling except to try lay-ups, but mostly did jump shots. They were even successful at times. Not that either were up for going to any try-outs soon. Adrien, being Adrien, still couldn't help but try to show off.  
  
"Agreste for the three pointer!"  
  
He shouldn't have tried his luck. Or at least not thrown the ball so hard. Because it promptly bounced back and hit him square in the head, knocking him flat on his back. Nino's first reaction, being a good best friend, was to laugh his ass off.  
  
Wiping tears from his eyes, he said, "Nailed it, dude. You should try for the LNB."  
  
"Shut up. I think I got a concussion. I got a concussion and you're laughing at me."  
  
"You're such a drama king," Nino rolled his eyes. Adrien couldn't see it from where he lay but he was familiar enough with people rolling their eyes at him to hear it in his voice.  
  
He did sense Nino put the ball down between them and lay down beside him. "You need to lie down too?"  
  
"Nah, but if anyone looks they'll just think we're chilling. We can get up when you feel better."  
  
"Thanks, man."  
  
"I do feel better about myself now, though. Even if it's just in comparison."  
  
"Rude."  
  
They watched the early spring clouds passed lazily in the sky, a lovely sight. Still, too sparse to block the sun, so they were able to bask in it's warmth for a spell. The air itself was warm enough but nothing beats lazing in a sunbeam. The sounds of the others in the park and light traffic made pleasant background noise. As nice as the environment was however, concrete wasn't the most comfortable thing to lay on. They didn't stay overly long.  
  
"Hey," Nino broke the silence. "You're not like, dizzy or nauseous or anything for real are you?"  
  
"Nah."  
  
"Cool, you wanna eat now?"  
  
Adrien was up and walking before Nino could catch up. "Yes. All that physical exertion made me hungry as hell."  
  
"Dude, we barely did anything. You're just a bottomless pit."  
  
"I'm eating my way through the trauma, okay? Okay? Jeez, no sympathy. No sympathy at all."  
  
"Whatever, dude. By the way, Friday night and Saturday morning's free for you, right? You weren't there when it was decided on, but we got a big group project with the girls, so we're gonna overnight at Mari's."  
  
"Yeah! Oh man, I love her place. Her parents are so nice. I'll let Nathalie know right away," Adrien fumbled for his phone excitedly. If he hadn't been so intent on it. When he looked up, he just caught a less than innocent grin on his best bud's face.

 

* * *

  
  
Adrien hadn't been at all kidding when he said he loved the Dupain-Chengs' home. He went there for baked goods whenever he could, and played games with Marinette once in a while. After one trouncing the other in just about any genre, they found they were on about equally even footing in shooters so that became their standby. He would have been perfectly happy to lounge around sprawled out on a couch and watch Marinette play RPGs but she'd get uncomfortable, and he liked being the one watched even less (especially since he had played them all through several times over but she didn't need to know that.) Playing shooters against each other was a blast but could get... intense. Okay, it got scary. So they usually switched to co-op after a while. They made a good team.  
  
He really did like it there. It wasn't the thrill and freedom of bounding around Paris as Chat, but in some ways it was better. He was comfortable being Adrien there. It was okay to be him there.  
  
Sadly, right now, he was in the last class of the day and he could hear the clock ticking. He sighed, having finished the classwork early and getting bored waiting for the teacher to call time up and move on.  
  
It was dumb, but Nino's persistent teasing crept into his head and wouldn't leave.  
  
He didn't mind, really, he wasn't annoyed, but his friend seemed so hopeful. Probably wanted to go on double dates or something. It's just that there really wasn't anything there and inevitably, his friend would realize that too and feel let down. Not like he could, or should, force his platonic interest in Marinette to become romantic just to meet expectations.  
  
There was no reason all Nino's talking points couldn't be platonic, after all. So yeah, when it was a class or other group thing, or maybe she just wasn't looking, he tended to move towards her or his eyes would wander over. When else was he supposed to do it without making the poor girl freak out? She made him feel at ease was all. What was so wrong with him doing those things when that was his only motivation? It was innocent enough.  
  
Foot swinging a little idly, Adrien let the ridiculous train of thought go by focusing on the moment. The sun had moved so no sunbeams hit his and Nino's desk, he noted moodily. Maybe a blessing in disguise because when he was both bored and in the sun, he had a tendency to sprawl out on his desk until the teacher gave him a stern look.  
  
Ah, his tablet screen was still on, he was wasting battery. He took it and pressed the power button, leaving him with a black screen which caught Marinette's reflection over his shoulder. Shifting it a little to get a better look, he noticed she was having more difficulty with the assignment, tongue sticking out between her lips a little. Adrien couldn't help but smile. She was so expressive. He wished the tablet surface could make a better reflection, though. You could only make out the outline of her hair against the black, couldn't see her freckles at all, and it hardly did justice to the blue of her eyes. It was easy enough for him to call those details to mind anyway, he supposed. Nino had asked him, when his pal was crushing on her, didn't he think she was super cute? Well, he hadn't denied it then and wouldn't now. She really could be adorable.

Fierce too, good lord, he had never seen anyone else handle Chloe the way Marinette did when it came to defending her mother's uncle. To see her working with him too was... Watching her work was something else. There was something about her when she did. It was too bad he didn't get to see that side of her too often.  
  
It was only a few times but he did get to as his alter ego. She had been amazing the first time he had worked with her as Chat Noir. In retrospect, all the flexing and smooth talk might have been a bit much, but she handled it well. Her admiration of him then still gave him a boost when he was feeling a little under-appreciated.

Wait, come to think of it, he had done the whole get on one knee and kiss her hand thing, hadn't he? Oh God. Why. Then he showed off more when he saved her from The Gamer. Come to think of it, when he picked her up to run away, he kinda... pounced her. Not in an indecent way! It was just a kneejerk reaction. He wanted to get her to safety. Holding her as he did had been nice, the way she clung onto him. He hoped he was able to share the thrill of running the rooftops with her then, even if just a little. It always got his heart pounding and maybe it had the same effect on her. The thought he could get her heart racing-

Adrien jumped when the teacher finally did call for everyone to turn in their work, a little miffed at the interruption. He would have liked a little longer to... Oh. interruption. He would have liked a little longer to... Oh.

All those things when he was Chat. When he was his truer (if a little exaggerated) self.

Oh. He knew why.  
  
As a general rule, Adrien tried not to swear strongly, even in his head, but thinking ahead to an entire evening, night, and morning over at Marinette's now, he could only think one thing.  
  
_**Shit.**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative chapter title: Adrien, You Idiot. But I think this one is good and I'll probably need that in reserve for the future. Because it's only ever on Mari's (stalkerish) schedule pulldown on the show, I forgot Adrien actually practices basketball lmao. I didn't realize this until way after this chapter, so you can parse this in one of two ways: 1) Adrien is actually a good ball player but, as a bro, he acted at being terrible so Nino wouldn't feel bad; or 2) He royally sucks despite being on a basketball team.
> 
> (I like 2)
> 
> Some very, very important (not really) set-up for Adrien being as much of a hot mess as Mari during the sleepover. I guess a smidge of Marichat snuck in? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	3. Mutually Assured Dorkstruction Pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sleepover begins. Nino may be the only sane person present, as Adrien is rendered a hot mess. This fic sheds any pretense of seriousness to be absolutely ridiculous.

   

> Ｔｈｅ  Ｄａｙ  Ｂｅｆｏｒｅ  －  ２７  Ｈｏｕｒｓ  Ｒｅｍａｉｎ

 

Sabine shifted her eyes back and forth over the street through the door window. All clear. She flipped the sign. 'Closed,' it now read to the outside world. The bakery business could wait for now. There were more important dealings upstairs.

She and Tom had sent Marinette on afternoon deliveries before Alya and Nino, now in the dining room, had arrived. The parents were sure they had a minimum of one hour for the meeting.

"May I?" Alya asked, holding the rod controlling the venetian blinds.

"Go right ahead, dear," Sabine said. Alya closed them almost completely, leaving the room dimly lit. Only thin strips of sunlight stood out brightly, like a scene out of film noir. The three seated at the table steepled their fingers with focused expressions. Tom even chuckled deep and low. It came off about as sinister as the big teddy bear of a man could.

"I'm sure you all know what we are gathered here today to plan," Alya paced at the head of the table. "Operation Mutually Assured Dorkstruction."

She tossed a folder onto the table with exactly that title written on it in red permanent marker, letters blocky. She had made a stencil to make it look official. It landed with a thud and slid a short ways. It was thick with paper: 'Intel' that Alya had gathered on their targets, which no one else was really inclined to read, but the newshound had felt the need to compile anyway.

Nino regarded it and cleared his throat. "Uh, gotta say, I still think the op name's a bit alarming."

Alya slammed her palms on the table loudly.

"Agent Nino! You should know full well the gravity of the situation. Desperate times call for desperate measures, which means a worthy and fitting name, understand?" She glowered at him. He offered no further objections, just shrugging in resignation.

"Good. Now, the reason our plans have gone awry before is that we have been trying to work with subjects with pre-conceived ideas of each other. These have stood in our way," Alya said. She straightened back up and clenched a fist tightly, continuing with a sneer in her voice, "Well, no longer. They must be torn down to the ground so we can build anew."

Nino raised a brow. Tom and Sabine looked at each other with worry, silently agreeing they would keep a closer eye on the whole thing than they had initially planned.

Alya nestled her palms together, once again looking calm and in control. "Agent Nino, what is the situation on Eagle One?"

"Ma'am, I have informed Eagle One that the 'group project' is not a school assignment, but a personal one," Alya's eyes widened. The 'agent' put up his hands in a placating gesture. "Now hear me out, he's been acting kinda nervous lately, and as his best fr- I mean, handler- I made the judgment call that it's better he knows first. Besides, man, it felt bad lying to him. Even if it's like, a really roundabout not really a lie, and we needed to imply it was official so his dad and Nathalie would let him. I needed to come clean, he's so... pure. I mean, he sorta maybe cried a bit when I let him know we planned a sleepover for him, and, really, I kinda anticipated that, and I didn't want it to be awkward if he started crying in here, which he would if we had sprung it on him. Then he'd get embarrassed."

The other three conspirators couldn't help their heart going out to Eagle One and saying, "Aww."

"Well okay, good call. I'm sure you all know but to rehash everything, Wonderful, Sweet, and Awkward but Still Lovely Land Mermaid has been-"

Nino put his hand up. Alya huffed. "Yeah, babe?"

"I'm glad we got to choose the code names, but uh Wonderful, Sweet, Awkward, uh- Lovely... Mermaid, or whatever, is a little long? Can we shorten that?"

"Fine. Mermaid."

"One."

" _Mermaid One_  has been aware of the truth of the group project from the start, that we mean to have Eagle One experience a key part of any childhood he has thus far been deprived of. However, to keep the 'Ahh- Ah- Ehh- Uh- A-A-Adrien!'— nice hand movement imitation, Mr. Agent Dupain-Cheng—" Tom beamed. "— To a minimum, we have been and have to keep acting like that's our only motive. As far as Eagle and Mermaid One are concerned, we are _not_ trying to ensure the next generation of Dupain-Chengs are incredibly, like super unfair levels of attractive because of them being the parents."

Nino wanted to point out that was going a biiiit far but the enthusiastic nods from Sabine and Tom stopped him from saying anything.

"Oh, before we go into planning details, why the movies?" Tom asked. "Not that I'm complaining, but I didn't think you kids would go for classics."

"Well, it's just a theory-"

"Hypothesis," Nino interjected.

"What?"

"Ad- Eagle One's given me so much sh- uh.... guff over the difference between a hypothesis and a theory that it bugs me too now."

"Okay, fine. It's a hypothesis. Based on intel from Agent Nino, I think Eagle One will like slapstick."

"Ah!" Tom nodded in approval. "Then there's no finer representative of physical comedy than the Little Tramp himself. Sorry, go on."

They went over the details of their plans, making sure everything was clearly understood and memorized. Once done, the blinds were opened in full, Alya and Nino left before Marinette could return, and the door's sign once again announced to the outside world that the bakery was open.

It was as if nothing had even happened.

 

* * *

  

>  Ｔｈｅ  Ｄａｙ  Ｏｆ  －  ３  Ｍｉｎｕｔｅｓ  Ｒｅｍａｉｎ

 

Marinette was huffing in and out of a paper bag. She was prepared. She was ready. Her body was ready. It was just a sleepover. A sleepover with the most perfect, gorgeous, and precious boy she had ever known, the boy who had completely, irrevocably, heightened her expectations of any possible romantic partners so no one else could ever meet them and if she ruined her chances with him she would never be with someone she truly loved with all her heart, so, despite the fact that she could barely hold it together around him for short periods of time, wherein both of them were almost completely focused on other things, she would have to be a normal human being around him for an entire sleepover. Hahahaha haha ahhahaha hahah ha.

She was not ready.

Alya was sitting on her chaise and she collapsed onto the floor by her bestie, head against her knees. Her friend stroked her hair soothingly. Marinette paused her hyperventilation control to look up and ask again, "You're sure we got all the pictures of Adrien down?"

"Yes, Mari, and we stapled the pull on your crazy schedule thing to the ceiling. Would you feel better if we changed into our jammies now?" She asked gently. Marinette nodded silently against her knee, having gone back to breathing into her bag. "Okay, we'll get into our jammies, honey."

They both changed, Alya into shorts and a t-shirt that was huge on her but apparently the closest size she could get in that design for one of her favourite superheroes, some motorcycle riding bug man. Mari went with sweatpants and a faded t-shirt that, in contrast, looked a size or two too small on her.

"Okay," she breathed and made fists. "I feel a little better. This- this is one of my favourite tees I've kept since I was a kid. This shirt and I have seen some shit. We can make it through this together."

Alya laughed. "Like a security blanket, eh? Don't worry, you got this, just keep chill. His shoot should be over and he'll be here any minute. I'm just going to let you calm down a little more alone, okay? I'll be downstairs."  
  
Descending, she thought she heard Mari freaking out to the empty room behind her, which at one time would have been worrying, but she had learned to accept her best friend's bizarre tendencies. At least it let her know Mari wasn't passing out. When she reached the storefront, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng were chatting with Nino. "Okay, team, bring it in."

As everyone huddled together, she said, "Mermaid One is under more even stress than anticipated."

"I'll say," Sabine frowned.

"She begged for everyone to _'be normal,'_ whatever that means." Alya made air quotes.

Nino sighed, saying, "I think it means no teasing, no pushing her and Eagle to get all cozy, and, all due respect Mister and Missus, not so much nos- er, checking in. Nothing like that. Like, we gave them the rad setup and planned everything around what's best for them, but now we gotta let them just be in their natural environment, know what I'm saying? Honestly? All the plan phases are already a little sorta out of the norm?"

Everyone stared at him.

"Well," Alya said thoughtfully. "It's... different, but that might be good, considering our success rate up 'til now. It's so crazy it might just work."

Nino carefully kept his face neutral over the irony of what was and wasn't considered crazy here.

The group of conspirators put their hands together and moved them up and down in tandem, saying quietly, "One, two, three— _Be normal._ "

 

* * *

  

> Ｔｈｅ  Ｅａｇｌｅ  Ｈａｓ  Ｌａｎｄｅｄ  －  Ｏｐｅｒａｔｉｏｎ  Ｂｅｇｉｎ

 

Meanwhile, Adrien was indeed set to arrive at any minute, recognizing streets near the bakery passing by outside the window of the sedan. He couldn't stop his leg from shaking in anticipation.

Nathalie was in the car with him. At his father's insistence, she was to talk to the Dupain-Cheng parents to judge if they would be responsible chaperones for a co-ed overnight stay. His backpack with change of clothes and school supplies, as well as cheese supply, sat between them and she could feel it shaking gently against her own leg from his nearly violent restlessness. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep straight faced at her charge's anticipation. Honestly, his friend's parents would have to be wildly inappropriate for her to deny him this.

When they arrived, Adrien grabbed his bag and tore out the door. She let herself smile a little at the Gorilla as he opened the door for her. His face was as deadpan as ever but he did grunt gently in what she thought was a vaguely amused tone, as far as grunts go.

The parents came out to meet them. After a short interview, they seemed very responsible and even used to watching over Adrien from daytime visits. In fact, it had almost felt like when Nathalie was meeting a planner or supervisor all ready to make some serious event go smoothly. They waved along with Adrien as the car pulled away. Looking back in the mirror, Nathalie saw the father pick the boy up in a big hug before setting him down again so the mother could embrace him herself and usher him in. This time, she didn't try to hide her smile.

 

* * *

 

Nino hummed idly as he screwed the speaker wire firmly in their connectors. Equipment setup was always soothing. His portable gear with the little bookshelf speakers didn't have the soundstage he liked, but it would do for the small space. Besides, he sure as fuck wasn't going to play music with some _iPod dock_ or use _laptop speakers_. He'd rather the demons of hell crack the ground open below him and drag him screaming down to the fires of eternal—

"SKREEEEEEEEEEE!"

Nino jumped about a foot into the air, headphones and cap askew when he landed.

"JEsus everloving CHRIST, girl!" He stormed over to his girlfriend. "When you said an eagle screech was the signal, I thought you'd like, go 'eeeech,' not rupture my goddamn eardrums."

Alya rolled her eyes, arms crossed, "Oh suck it up, he's coming. Prepare hugs."

"I am _always_ ready to hug my bro," Nino growled, jabbing a finger at her.

As the doorknob turned, their death glares immediately became gentle grins. Adrien had barely closed the door behind him before Nino crushed him in a spinning hug. "Dude, glad to see you made it! I was kinda spooked your dad would cut you off last second."

"What, keep me from my best buddy and the girls? I'd sneak out if I had to," Adrien returned the hug just as fiercely, not noticing Nino giving Alya a pointed look. She smiled and shrugged. Point taken, never underestimate the bromance. Her boyfriend seemed placated so she brought it in and made it a group hug.

"Hey, Adrien! Mari and I got into our PJs already. She's in her room but she should be down in a moment. You ready for the sleepover of your life?"

"Of course!"

"Well, I mean, it's the only sleepover of your life right now," Nino quipped. "Warning you though, we're gonna set the bar pret-ty high. Just gonna chill and play games 'til dinner though so c'mon, I'm ready to hand your ass to you in Mario Kart— dibsonYoshi."

"Dibs- damn it! Ma-"

"Mario dibs!" Marinette called as she ran down the stairs.

"Augh! Luigi then!"

Alya shrugged. "I main Bowser anyways."

  

> Ｐｈａｓｅ  １：  Ｖｉｄｅｏ  Ｇａｍｅｓ．  Ｉｎｉｔｉａｔｉｎｇ  ｔｈｅ  ｏｐｅｒａｔｉｏｎ  ｗｉｔｈ  ｒｏｕｔｉｎｅ  ａｃｔｉｖｉｔｙ  ｗｉｌｌ  ｐｕｔ  ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔｓ  ａｔ  ｅａｓｅ．  Ａｄｄｉｔｉｏｎａｌｌｙ，  ｔｈｅ  ｉｎｔｅｎｓｉｔｙ  ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔｓ  ｐｕｔ  ｉｎｔｏ  ｖｉｄｅｏ  ｇａｍｅｓ  ｗｉｌｌ  ｅａｓｉｌｙ  ｏｖｅｒｐｏｗｅｒ  ａｎｙ  ｉｎｉｔｉａｌ  ａｗｋｗａｒｄｎｅｓｓ．

 

Marinette was going to bring over croissants and cookies, what had become the staple snacks for gaming in the house, so the three had the TV idling on the character select screen and were joking around while they waited. Adrien could feel the absence of tension he didn't even know he had had all day. It must have been the familiarity of having a game on and slouching (he could slouch here!) in a particular part of well worn couch (because other people regularly used it!) that had become 'his spot.' He had actually wrestled Nino away to claim it. Alya had to stop their slapfight, saying they were just as bad as her sisters- the ones whose ages were in the single digits.

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting!"

Adrien's eyes brightened and he sat up as he watched the food laden plates being brought in and set on the coffee table. He quickly grabbed and bit into a cookie with eye closed bliss before swallowing and remembering his manners.

"Hey, Marinette! Thanks." He meant to elaborate, that he meant thanks the food and letting him stay over, but he stopped himself because he might have gone on to thank her for very presence. A heightened awareness for just how cute and pretty she was over the past few days tested his very well trained sense of maintaining composure. But she hadn't had her hair down then. She did now. And he noticed. His squeak was barely audible even to him. No one else could have heard it. He hoped.

"H-hey! No problem, Adrien, you know I always want you- uh, you're always fine- er, welcome here! Haaahhh," she said, pointed at him with both hands, grinning.

"Cool? I'm glad to hear it. Your controller's on the couch over there, it's the first player one. You're our host, after all," he winked. Tittered nervously as she went to claim it. Oh crap, did he creep her out? Why did he wink. He probably couldn't hug her hello now. Man. He had really been enjoying the whole constant hugging thing and he would have especially liked... to... have hugged everyone. In general.

She chose Mario and there was a short debate over courses he only absently participated in because wow, her hair framed her face nicely when it was down. It really brought out the roundness of her cheeks, the fullness of her lips, and tied her features together overall in a stunning way the pigtails didn't. Or maybe he had just gotten too used to the pigtails and stopped noticing until this made him look at her in a new light.

Focus! Don't stare, Adrien, don't stare. Don't even glance over. There is a race to win. He gulped. That's right, they were racing and this group _would_ grief the hell out of each other to come out on top.

There were no friendships in Mario Kart.

They played with the banter typically accompanying this fun, family friendly game.

"How long have you had lightning? Oh no. Hoe, don't do it." A very complicated section of racecourse was imminent. "OH MY GOD."

"Hah! You fell. Eat it, scrub."

"You blueshelled me! I _will_ destroy everything you love."

"Get back here, you piece of shit!"

"Ram me again and I will end your sorry ass."

By the last race, the point board had Marinette and Alya in a tie for first with the boys behind by less than three. It was still anyone's game. The tension was palpable.

Tom came to check in on them, but promptly began to walk away backwards. Everyone was white knuckling their controllers. This was it. They all had the leading four spots, constantly getting one behind or ahead of another. If the AI truly had any artificial intelligence, it would have been avoiding the quartet out of sheer terror. Laps went by, devoid of even of any trash talk. Only grunts of effort and cries of anger or anguish broke the silence. Then they crossed the finish line. It had been too close to even make out visually who had been ahead of who.

There are moments in life where time seems to slow down. Where fractions of seconds seem like eons. Finally, finally, the scoreboard appeared.

Mario in first.

As Marinette jumped up in victory, everyone else leaned back and groaned, but for some chance (yes, definitely chance,) reason, Adrien's eye was still partially on her as her small t-shirt rode up and exposed some stomach. Holy shit. Marinette was ripped.

Adrien snapped his head back as far as he could on the couch backrest, squeezing his eyes shut, and putting a fist over his mouth. He felt like he was burning up and he knew it had nothing to do with the bakery ovens. He peeked an eye open, because the judgment and composure ingrained in him from childhood had left him along with the ability to breathe. Her leap had turned into a victory dance. Or, more accurately, the leadup to a victory dance which meant the thing she did with her feet rapidly going up and down, resulting in her patented Cute Butt Wiggle.

Any air remaining in his body left in a long, slow wheeze.

"Alright, down, girl," Alya said bitterly. "We aren't done. Y'all ready for the next round?"

The other two responded in the affirmative but Adrien needed some time to reboot his overloaded brain, and probably several other parts of his body he couldn't (wouldn't?) name. Respectful thoughts. He took a very deep breath, then groaned, "Give me a moment."

"Sorry, dudes, my boy gets a little dramatic. He'll be over it soon."

"Well, it was a pretty dramatic victory by _Mario-nette._ "

"Ughhh."

"Ughhh."

"Why you always gotta hurt me like this, bro?"

Oh, puns. They were always there for him. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's go."

They continued, thankfully without any incidents as _racy_ as what just happened. He just had to ignore any _waves_ of temptation to _check-'er flag._ Even if, honestly, he'd like to _cc_ more. Perhaps if he could _lap_ \- **WOW, NO**. Damn it. First his mind and body. Now even the puns had betrayed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sleepover may actually be a three-parter because there is so much I want to do. Anyways, I hope you got some laughs out of this part. Thanks for all the kudos, comments, bookmarks, et al! I thrive on validation. ٩( ᐛ )و


	4. Mutually Assured Dorkstruction Pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [DJWiFi fluff intensifies.] Sleepover activities continue. Adrien making a goof of himself also intensifies. All the while, the thirst is real and mutual, not that the parties involved realize it. Everyone goes to bed for now, but who knows if this is really the end of the sleepover~? (It's not (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞)
> 
> Pun background before you read for non FPS players - Counterstrike: Global Offensive is commonly abbreviated to CS:GO. This doesn't really matter except that it's part of a pun and puns are matter immensely.

   

> Ｐｈａｓｅ  ２：  Ｄｉｎｎｅｒ．  Ｇｉｖｅｎ  ａ  ｈｕｎｇｒｙ  Ｗｏｎｄｅｒｆｕｌ，  Ｓｗｅｅｔ，  ａｎｄ  Ａｗｋｗａｒｄ  ｂｕｔ  Ｓｔｉｌｌ  Ｌｏｖｅｌｙ  Ｌａｎｄ  Ｍｅｒｍａｉｄ＇ｓ  ｔｅｍｐｅｒ，  ｓｈｅ  ｍｕｓｔ  ｂｅ  ｆｅｄ  ｆｏｒ  ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ＇ｓ  ｓａｆｅｔｙ．  Ａｌｓｏ，  Ｅａｇｌｅ  Ｏｎｅ  ｍｕｓｔ  ｂｅ  ｆｅｄ，  ｐｅｒｉｏｄ．  Ｎｏｔｅ：  Ｄｏ  ｎｏｔ  ｄｒｉｎｋ  ｔｈｅ  ｔｅａ．

The crux of this phase of the operation was a very potent and irresisitable weapon from Agent Mrs. Dupain-Cheng's arsenal: the lychee tea.

"Oh, I had just the one cup before I know how strong it was and I couldn't sleep all night."

The original plan was for all four teens to indulge, but an exchange of toothy grins between Nino and Alya had them insisting on just Mermaid and Eagle One having any significant amount. An exchange of concerned frowns between Maman and Papa Dupain-Cheng had them questioning if that was wise. That meant their darling daughter alone with a boy when everyone else was asleep, after all. No matter how fond they were of that boy, or how they didn't want to be over-protective parents, teenagers were teenagers. No responsible parents could have zero qualms. It took convincing, but it was agreed that Adrien was too much a gentleman and Marinette too much a lady, capable of fighting off most anyone her age at that, for anything to happen.

As if to prove his gallantry that night, Adrien had said "Ladies first," as everyone took their seats at the dining table, extended by another table and more seats. It may have been a bit weird how quickly he rushed to sit beside Marinette instead of the seat across from her, like it would go up in flames if he sat there, but no one questioned it. They figured he was simply eager to dig into the delicious dishes on the table. There was impressive spread of both French and Chinese cuisine, barely fitting on the table(s) and enough to feed an army.

Even Marinette was impressed. "Wow, maman, papa, you really went all out! I've never had every single one of my favourite foods on the table at once."

"And there's more in the kitchen!" Tom beamed, gesturing over to the pots, pans, and bowls in the other corner, more helpings waiting. "Don't anyone be shy. Especially you, sons, the both of you are far too skinny for your height. I'm not giving up on feeding Mari as much as she needs for her to grow into her figure and the same goes for all of you."

"Papa!"

Adrien praised the heavens everyone was too absorbed in conversation and food to notice his slight sputter at the mention of Marinette's figure.

"That's right, I will take personal offense if anyone doesn't eat until they're stuffed," Sabine said. A timer chimed. "Oh, tea's ready!"

"Oh man, my dietician's going to have a fit," Adrien said.

"Dietician, my foot!" Tom said. "All these diet fads and confusing advice is a load of nonsense. Everyone, growing teens especially, ought to just eat until they're not hungry anymore and drink when they're thirsty. Works for me."

He flexed for emphasis. "I _die-at_  the thought of it. It'd make _h-angry_ to go through."

Adrien loved this man.

"Yes dear, I agree," Sabine said, returning with a large teapot and beginning to pour into the small teacups at everyone's places. They were mismatched, but all beautiful with their designs of flowers, landscapes, and fish despite any chips or cracks, Adrien noted. He far preferred it to the matching sets of minimalist tableware at home.

"If your dietician or anyone has a problem with it, let me talk to them." She made direct eye contact with Adrien as she said it. Despite her sweet smile, the look in her eye and dangerously even voice made it clear she was not joking in the slightest. She might as well have added, _'capisce?'_   No mob capo could have outdone her.

"Yes, ma'am."

Sabine looked pleased. With everyone's teacups filled, she took a route around Adrien and Marinette towards her seat. Once behind them, she caught all the other operatives' eyes and gestured to the pot then drew her extended index finger across her throat. They subtly nodded. She sat down casually.

"Wow, I forgot how strong this tea is," Marinette said, taking a sip. "And delicious too!"

The operatives took small cursory sips so as to not arouse any suspicion.

"No kidding, girl," Alya said. "This is good."

"I agree," Adrien said, smiling with eyes closed and sniffing his cup. "I think I have a new favourite tea. Should we be having it so late, though? I mean, it is a sleepover and all."

Nino laughed. "Oh, Adrien. My poor, sweet, innocent Adrien. The point of sleepovers is to not sleep! You gotta stay up all night with your bros!"

The others nodded, Tom adding, "We've _plent-tea_ of it too. Drink up, we can't waste it."

" _Leaf_  it to me," Adrien replied. He and Tom laughed loudly. No one else laughed.

"I love this kid!" Tom extended both arms at him.

To the conspirators' delight, drink up Marinette and Adrien did. At least five full teacups. They had worried whether they would take the bait, or enough of it, but they were sure to be up late now. Even if they had built up caffeine immunity, both coming into school with coffee looking dead on their feet all the time, the lychee tea was not to be taken lightly.

Cup six. Marinette was practically buzzing in her seat. Both her and Adrien were practically inhaling their food. Everyone else was long done, now conversing pleasantly, but at times taking a moment to marvel at the sight.

Once done, both politely said-yelled, "MAMAN, PAPA-"/"MR. AND MRS. DUPAIN-CHENG-"

"-CANIHELPCLEANUP"

"Er, no sweethearts," Sabine said. "That's alright. Tom and I will clean up, you kids just have fun."

"THANKYOUFORDINNER." The two practically leapt across the entire distance of the floor between the table and the living room area.

"Dudes, I cannot believe how well that worked," Nino gaped. "We're going to have to have some of that tea when we have exams, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng."

"No problem..." Sabine stared at her heavily caffeinated daughter and her friend. They could be heard as if they were still on their side of the floor.

"YOU WANNA PLAY-"

"COUNTERSTRIKE."

" _GO_  TIME."

The slight pun only got a little snort from Marinette as she slam dunked the CD into the console.

 

> Ｕｎｆｏｒｅｓｅｅｎ  Ｅｖｅｎｔ：  Ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔｓ  ｔｏ  ｂｅ  ａｖｏｉｄｅｄ  ｕｎｔｉｌ  ｔｈｅｙ  ｍａｙ  ｂｅ  ｓａｆｅｌｙ  ｈａｎｄｌｅｄ．

 

"LEEEEROY JENNNKINS," Adrien yelled. Like, yelled-yelled, not 'my inside voice is shot right now' yelled.

"ADRIEN, OH MY GOD." Marinette sounded like she was absolutely done with the boy, crush or not. "DON'T MAKE US LOSE BECAUSE OF MEMES."

She was emptying magazines trying to keep him alive while he ran around stabbing people with a combat knife. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't successful.

He just laughed as he waited to respawn. "Prostrats, Marinette. It was a tactical suicide run. Or should I say _tacti-cool._ "

"No. You shouldn't. If I didn't have to focus on carrying the team right now, I'd tactical punch your stupid face."

"You should be thanking me. You're getting all the kills thanks to your beautiful meatshield. Speaking of, you don't want to punch my face, it's insured," he tossed his head. Marinette couldn't help but glance over despite the firefight. Her eyes still narrowed even as she inhaled in what Alya had dubbed The Thirst Breath.

"Can never tell if you're kidding about this kinda stuff, bro," Nino said from his relatively safe spot away from the two. He had pulled a chair over to the wall where he had set up his speakers, hiding behind his laptop. It put some distance and cover between himself and the couch/battlefront.

Alya was leaning over the back of the couch to watch. "Wouldn't risk it, girl. It probably is. For like, a million euro, probably."

"Two, actually."

It didn't take long for Adrien "compulsion to excel at everything I do" Agreste and Marinette "my competitive streak is painted with your blood" Dupain-Cheng to get serious after that. They yell-yelled as they made every opposing player on the server regret ever picking up a virtual gun against them. It was hard at times to even tell if they were yelling at the screen or each other, except when it was things like "FLANK 'EM, FLANK 'EM," "GOTTA RETREAT, RUNNING LOW," "FRAG OUT!" Part of Alya wanted to stay and watch because they worked amazingly well together.

But yeah, no, her eardrums and innate sense of self-preservation screamed for her to grab a chair and take refuge in the presence of her much calmer boyfriend. Not that she usually needed help being chill, but dealing with the other two's stupid romantic tension as long as she had made her crazy. Nino had a way of making her feel at ease just being around her, provided they weren't having some stupid snarky fight about something stupid, which neither could even knew remember reason for later.

Alya went to squeeze an arm around his shoulders in a half hug. Him using his laptop meant needing both hands right now, so she'd have to settle. He did stop to kiss her on the side of the head though, letting it push his cap bill up. She hummed with contentment and pulled the hat off completely, mussing his hair up.

"Hey," he said, amusement in his voice. "Rude."

"Whatever, hon, your hair's damp. You needed to air out anyway. Whatcha doing?" She lay her head on his shoulder to watch the screen, still playing with his hair.

"Getting a dance playlist together. We have got to tire them out. I know they're not sleeping 'til way after we do, but we aren't sleeping at all if they stay like this."

"You're not putting anything weird on it, are you? Like, what was it.... Koyanatsi?"

"Koyaanisqatsi. And no, don't worry, I'm only using songs you _mainstream plebeians_  will recognize," he affected a snobbish tone. "I know you rabble haven't the faculties to recognize the genius of Philip Glass."

"Uh, whatever, Mr. What's The Big Deal With Jack Kirby."

"Comics nerd."

"Music nerd."

They glanced and smirked at each other before returning to work and watching respectively. It was pretty amazing to Alya, how quickly he went through folders and albums, adding specific songs, choosing between several remixes and mashups of the exact same song, making revisions, doing esoteric things with his player she never got even when he explained. He'd mutter things to himself about whether it'd tie in well, fit the tone. Paused at songs to hum or beatbox what must be part of it to himself thoughtfully.

She thought he was worrying too much over a casual dance playlist, but he always put in his all when it came to her and their friends. She'd never met anyone else so invested that way. She had to set up a mailing list for him and convince him to make one mix composed of songs he thought each would like instead of making separate ones for everyone. Though she also had to get him to mark what genres they were so she could skip the metal songs for Ivan. Who knew there was Finnish folk metal?

She looked up at him, smiling wider. She liked him with his cap off. Sometimes, she wondered if he had the big headphones, or 'circumaural full size cans,' and cap on to hide behind. Alya was trying to get him to keep them off, without much headway. She had to admit, if it was a 'keep people from noticing me' thing, it had worked on her for a long time. Then again, she kinda liked that it was like their little secret, her almost exclusively getting to see him without it all.

Even they weren't alone, she could appreciate his eyes. Such a light brown, with a way of catching the light to look golden. A gold that practically shone when he was into his music, lighting up with infectious enthusiasm. And there was no missing the perpetual gentle friendliness in them.

"Hey," she said, then waited for his full attention. "I love you, you know that?"

And he had the cutest smile. "Well, I love you too. What brought that on?"

"Nothing."

Nino laughed. Nice laugh too. He put an arm around her, squeezing like she had before and kissing her on the head again. "I'll take what I can get. How are the kids? Oh. Nevermind, I see and I am looking away and praying they didn't see me."

"I gotta say, you were right."

His eyebrows shot up. "My girl admitting I was right about something? Hold up, I gotta type this up. 'Spring of 2016, Alya says I was right about... ?"

"Oh, shut up. I meant about letting those two do whatever."

"See?" He grinned smugly, chin up. Nevermind, she took it back, his smile wasn't cute at all. "Sometimes you just gotta let two creatures loose and let nature take it's course."

Alya slapped his thigh. "Nino! Don't make it sound like when zookeepers put animals together in an enclosure and hope they get together."

"Worked for us, didn't it?" He waggled his eyebrows.

"Mmm, well..." She gave him a peck on the lips. He chuckled liked a goof, something like 'ahuhuhuhu.' Nice laugh thing redacted too.

They jumped and looked over as Adrien and Marinette gave an ear pounding victory cheer. Apparently, they had scored a hell of a win because they actually got up and chest bumped with a "YEAH. UH!"

"Adrien in the house, beasting tonight!" Marinette said proudly with arms crossed and a cock of the hips at the screen, as if whoever had worked them up so much could see and hear her boast.

"Heh, well, I've got a great partner and my lucky charm," Adrien said tamely, despite the wild pride in his eyes just moments earlier. He looked flushed, and more than really into the game flushed. Marinette asked about the lucky charm thing, getting shy too.

"Holy shit," Nino said with his smug grin back. "The mystery of does Adrien have a physical, functioning libido solved. Solid yes."

"What? Tell me. Tell me." Alya was sharp but no one could read the carefully put together model like Nino.

"Dude's like, the biggest, most hopeless romantic. I didn't know people like him even existed for real before, but I was starting to think he's a hundred percent ace. He never joins in when we're hanging out with the boys and they talk about hot celebrities or whatever, or check anyone out, nothing. Just now, though? It was only for like, a second, but after they chestbumped, he looked like he was gonna crawl under the couch."

"Oh my God. You're telling me he went 'damn Mari your bobbies?'"

"He did."

"EEE-"

"Shh, squeal quietly."

"-eeeeeeeeeeee! My girl's gonna get it," Alya practically vibrated with excitement.

As if to dispel any doubt, they heard Marinette say, "You okay, Adrien? You're a little off your game now."

"Oh," Adrien cleared his throat. "Sorry, guess I'm just fading. Uh, can we start on movies after this?"

 

> Ｐｈａｓｅ  ３：  Ｍｏｖｉｅｓ．  Ｔｅｓｔ   ~~ｔｈｅｏｒｙ~~   ｈｙｐｏｔｈｅｓｉｓ  ｏｆ  Ｅａｇｌｅ  Ｏｎｅ＇ｓ  ｐｒｅｆｅｒｅｎｃｅ  ｆｏｒ  ｓｌａｐｓｔｉｃｋ．  Ｉｆ  ｄｉｓｐｒｏｖｅｎ，  ｗａｔｃｈ  ｒｏｍａｎｔｉｃ  ｃｏｍｅｄｙ．

  
Not even a fifth of the way into Modern Times, Adrien was laughing hysterically. He was forever redefining the meaning of 'laughing hysterically' for all present. He was red faced, had tears streaming down his face and smeared all over his cheeks, and was snorting like a pig all the while.

It was the most beautiful thing Marinette had ever seen or heard.

Her, Nino, and Alya, were more laughing at/along with Adrien than over the movie.

She had lost count of how many times she'd watched this movie over the years and, though she still loved it, this time was as good as the first time she got to experience it- maybe better. Up until now, she was keeping it together mostly by focusing on anything but him. Having the other two around helped, and their utter domination in Counterstrike together always made her feel oddly connected with him. Virtual murder probably shouldn't do that, but it did. This? This was a paradigm shift. She didn't feel like she'd ever be quite as awkward around her crush now that she had seen him absolutely ugly laughing. Well, okay, that was a misnomer, he was gorgeous even then.

There were just a few butterflies in her stomach as she watched him with full focus now. He looked looked as happy as she had ever seen him. Who would have thought he was a giant nerd who lost it at Charlie Chaplin slowly getting a pie shoved in his face like her? The occasional puns he'd been letting loose all night were wearing down her previous image of him too.

She watched him watch Chaplin rollerskate blindfolded, narrowly missing falling several floors, with eyes wide in childlike wonder, gasping.

She watched him watch Chaplin and the Gamin try to make an honest, happy life for themselves with a dreamy smile and gentle, sincere eyes. No doubt he was rooting for them in his heart as much as her.

She felt like she was seeing him for the first time again and decided the photos of him posturing for the camera were going to go into the recycling. Well, most of them. A few were just too good.

"Okay y'all," Alya said as the credits rolled. "I think we have to take a break or Adrien is literally going to die from laughing."

Everyone agreed, even Adrien himself who was still catching his breath and cracking up all over again at things he breathlessly and unintelligibly tried to remind the others of.

Marinette started conversation with knowledge behind the movie. Everyone asked about the scene with the rollerskates and missing railing. Apparently, he was safe the whole time, they used glass, a see-through blindfold, and some clever camera work. Another American actor like Chaplin, Buster Keaton, was the one to pull really dangerous stunts without a double or safety measures. Still, she loved how clever they were to create the illusion of danger.

Nino enthusiastically listened then segued into talking about practical effects in more modern Hollywood films like Star Wars and the latest Mad Max movie.

"Oh man, that entire movie was awesome, but the polecats were my favourite," Adrien said.

"Dude, you know they were actually doing those things for real on moving vehicles? They were gonna shoot it stationary then put it in with CGI but George Miller was like 'nah that's not rad enough.'"

"No way, that's amazing! I wanna do stuff like that."

"You think Chat Noir could do that?" Alya asked thoughtfully. "You know, with his own staff, if it can get flexible. That'd be so cool."

"Maybe..." Adrien pondered as well.

"Yeah, that guy does some crazy acrobatics," Nino said. "I bet he's like, a gymnast or parkour master in real life."

"He's good but he has really bad luck sometimes. If he tried something like that, he could mess up because of something totally beyond his control and it'd be catastrophic," Marinette said.

Then she winced. Both at the thought of her kitty getting hurt and his stupid puns getting to her. He could never know about this slip-up.

Adrien snorted in laughter.

"It's not funny! Chat's reckless enough as it is, I don't think he needs to act like he's in Mad Max on top of it all."

"Marinette..." Adrien said with a twinkle in his eye. "You seem awfully concerned about the guy. Do you like him?"

"What? No! I just don't want one half of Paris' superhero team getting run over."

"Girl, why you blushing thennn?" Alya teased, grinning smugly. Marinette had half a mind to kick her, but she did feel pretty hot in the face.

"'Cause it's embarrassing being teased over anyone, alright! I don't like him that way. He's so cocky. I hate when guys are like that."

"Yeah, especially when they actually have an excuse to be cocky, right?" Adrien grinned.

"Ugh," Marinette covered her face. That stupid, immature jerk had no excuse, no matter how charismatic he could be or if he really was crazy acrobatic and no doubt had the core strength to do polecat stunts. Damn it. She really hated this train of thought.

"Guys, leave poor Mari alone," Nino said. "She's got a point. I don't know if I would even want sweet, pure homegirl here crushing over a dude who runs around in a skintight leather catsuit, hero or not. He's probably like, super kinky and he's got a huge reputation for being a flirt. Like yeah, he's gotta be a good guy deep down if he's always saving Parisians and all, but what if he's a player or some shit?"

Adrien, who had been smiling ear to ear up until now, sputtered. "What? Come on! He's only known for flirting with Ladybug. Anyway, aren't their suits magic? Maybe he doesn't have a choice about the costume. It's probably not even leather, some... magical mystery material. Who knows. I don't know."

"Uh-huh, doesn't change the fact that homeboy seems _really_  comfortable about running around in it. Wait, Alya and Mari have met him before. Would you girls say he's flirty?"

"Oh yeah," Alya said. "Not to me personally, but really flirty with the camera."

"Definitely flirty," Marinette agreed. "When we first met- you know, when poor Nathanael was made an akuma- he kissed my hand, he kept flexing, he called me princess..."

"Oh my God, he did?" Alya giggled. "Girl, he was super flirting with you."

"Well!" Adrien cut in. "Who could blame him- uh, you know, wanting to impress people?"

"He's ridiculous!" Marinette put her cheek in her palm with a huff. "He's already there for Paris and Ladybug any time we need him, and he's our age so he's got to have the same stuff to worry about already. That makes him incredibly impressive by itself. I don't know why he feels like he has to do anything more."

"True that," Nino said. Alya nodded expertly.

Adrien had a hand on the back on his neck, chuckling quietly to himself. "Well... Anyways, how about another movie?"

  

> Ｐｈａｓｅ  ４：  Ｍｕｓｉｃ  ａｎｄ  ｄａｎｃｉｎｇ．  Ａｇｅｎｔ  Ｎｉｎｏ  ａｓｓｕｒｅｓ  ｔｈａｔ  ｉｆ  ｐｒｅｖｉｏｕｓ  ｐｈａｓｅ  ｄｉｄ  ｎｏｔ  ｗｏｒｋ  ａｓ  ｐｌａｎｎｅｄ  ｏｎ  Ｅａｇｌｅ  Ｏｎｅ，  ｔｈｉｓ  ｏｎｅ  ｗｉｌｌ．

 

It had been a while since the second movie ended and no one was making any move to start a third. Alya, Marinette, and Adrien were just throwing popcorn at each other and trying to catch it in their mouths. Well, okay, Marinette and Adrien were practically hurling the kernels like damn pro baseball pitchers. Nino had excused himself from this riveting, sophisticated game to get the party started.

"Oh God, my eye!"

"Omigosh, I'm sorry Adrien! I'm such a klutz."

"No, no, it's okay," he blinked rapidly as Alya laughed loudly. "Huh."

"I didn't make you blind in one eye, did I?" Marinette squeaked, fists to her cheeks.

"No, I think you actually made my eyesight _butter._ "

"I'm not sorry anymore."

Nino snorted and moved a song to the top of his playlist. It'd make the flow of the music kinda weird in a couple of places, but whatever. With the caffeine rush and laughter high in play, he had to try this. He hit play. As soon as the bassline began, Adrien looked over wide eyed. "Oh hell no, you did not just-"

"Yeah, I did, dude."

"You _know_ this is my jam."

"That's why you best get up and start the party, white boy."

Adrien rose from his seat as his voice did.

"IiiiiIIII CAN'T STAND IT. I know you planned it," he sang along, continuing with the lyrics as he walked slowly to where the floor was clear, slapping his chest with both hands and stretching his arms out as if in challenge as he passed Nino, "- I got this fucking thorn in my side! Oh my God, it's a mirage, I'm telling y'all it's sabotage!"

"Oh shit, Adrien breaking it down!" Alya cried with delight as the song went into an instrumental break.

He really was, with a big dopey grin when he wasn't singing along in faux intensity. He mostly busted out silly dance moves from 80s or 90s hip-hop music videos. Nino knew this for a fact. His beloved nerd bro watched them in his room and learned the choreography. He actually tied them together really well, but as good as his rhythm and moves might have been, there was no _not_  laughing at Adrien Agreste, professional model, typically the very image of reserved yet approachable dignity, doing the running man before yelling, "Hammer time!" and shuffling side to side. Alya was crying laughing. If he had been wearing parachute pants she'd be on the floor, either rolling or dead.

Nino himself had to wipe tears from his eyes as Sabotage ended and Hey Ladies started. He got up and went over to Adrien, clasping hands to pull into a Bro Hug and join in.

"Hey! Hey! Hey, ladies!" They gestured for the other two to dance with them, which Marinette and Alya did once they could get up without being doubled over in laughter. They taught each other goofy dance moves, Adrien having the most extensive repertoire of them all. He even did the _entire_ number for Gangnam Style, lyrics memorized and not one beat off.

Marinette sat down after a while to laugh and watch her friends dance. It was never her thing, given 'sure-footed' was not what sprang to mind when people were asked about her.

At some point, Adrien had removed the shirt he wore over his tee when he started sweating; or, actually, because this was Adrien we were talking about, _glistening._  Combine that with the fact that meant his t-shirt was clinging to him and he was still in skinny jeans and she was given a pretty good view of his... assets. It was a damn good thing she was already sitting down and could blame any redness on exertion. Especially when he decided to actually take the dancing seriously for Smooth Criminal. Alya had to motion for her to close her mouth. Several times. Oh lordy, he just did the splits.

Marinette very rarely felt the least upset with her parents, but when they came up to say the teens would either have to turn it down or knock it off because they going to sleep, she felt just a twinge of annoyance.

 

> Ｐｈａｓｅ  ５：  Ｂｌａｎｋｅｔ  ｆｏｒｔ．

 

The boys went to change into their pajamas and get ready for bed in the main bathroom, while the girls used Marinette's to wash up.

"So," Nino said, rinsing out his mouth. "What was with the chest bump?"

Adrien spat out toothpaste froth. He rinsed, looking caught.

"Oh, that's... Just a thing we do. When we score a big win. Funny story, the first time, I jumped into it too and it knocked Marinette over so I just hop up a little now," he chuckled weakly, hands up in a shrug. Obviously, he was desperate for Nino to accept that answer.

"Dude, don't try to play this off. You can't fool me."

There was a pause.

"I just, I never noticed before," Adrien sighed in resignation. He whispered, as if he would cry in awe, "It was so soft... It was so soft."

"Bruh," Nino said simply. Sometimes that's all that needs to be said. He rubbed Adrien's back in understanding as the guy leaned on the counter, covering his face with his hands.

After talking Adrien through a miniature crisis over how soft and wonderful bobbies were and how it's okay to acknowledge that, he and Nino walked up the stairs into Marinette's room. The girls had compiled what must have been every pillow and blanket in the house Tom and Sabine weren't using.

Marinette smiled at Adrien's look of slight confusion. "Ready to earn your blanket fort engineering degree?"

Her smile grew into a grin as his eyes lit up. _"Yes."_

"Then let's get started already! As a big sister and the most experienced in blanket fort construction, I declare myself foreman," Alya said proudly.

"Yes, ma'am!" Marinette and Nino stood at attention and saluted. Adrien followed suit after looking at them, still with a enthusiastic, slightly confused smile on his face.

At first, they tried making a large canopy by draping several clipped together blankets over from the railing by Marinette's bed, but they had agreed that was too high and failed to meet the coziness quota of a proper fort. Then they had tried to use chairs, like they had as kids and Alya did with her little sisters, but it was too low. The boys couldn't move around underneath even crouching and, as funny as the thought of them having to squirm around on their bellies was to the girls, they decided they did not want to have to act like they were in some war movie training montage.

Trying to use brooms and other pole like objects as supports was a disaster. They couldn't get them to stay standing. They would fall and so would the blankets and everyone would get tangled up. They gave it up as a bad job after everyone once got tangled up so badly, they all thought they would die that way. They discussed regrets and wishes.

They did eventually free themselves but it would come to be known as The Pole Incident. It was not spoken of again except in hushed tones.

Finally, they found using double chairs (one upside-down on the other) was just right. Alya declared it the finest, plushest blanket fort she had ever seen. Still, Marinette went rooting around in storage for anything usably soft she and Alya might have missed before. She came back saying, "Hey guys, check this out! I didn't even know we still had this."

She waved a cheap little mini-keyboard, obviously a toy for kids. Nino took it to look over and she handed him the batteries to put in. He immediately began to go through the preset drumbeats, switching it between sound modes like 'organ,' 'flute,' and 'fantasy,' whatever that was supposed to mean. "Oh man, these are awful and the speaker makes it sound so dinky," he snickered. "I love it."

He really fell in love when he found the sound effects switch and discovered it had a fart noise. Everyone sat around in the fort in a circle (square?) as he started improvising a tune composed mainly of farts to the preset 'samba' drumbeat. He and Adrien giggled like eight year olds.

Marinette and Alya rolled their eyes but couldn't help grinning. It was pretty funny but they were above this, damn it. Then they lost it when Nino ended the 'song' dramatically with an explosion sound effect he let hang in the air, making a face as if he had just delivered the sickest performance of his life and that was his substitute for dropping the mic. They didn't bother suppressing their laughter after that. Nino and Adrien passed the keyboard between each other, being the musically inclined ones, doing their utmost to be as juvenile and laughable as humanly possible.

"Yo, Adrien, You should get a realass synthesizer and play with me on gigs," Nino said. "Wear a pink shirt and a piano tie and everything, we'd rock it."

"Dude, we would! I'll wear shutter shades, it'll be awesome."

"Oh, oh! Suspenders too," Marinette said. "I'll make you piano print suspenders, not even joking."

"Guys, if we're going for full nerd he has to play a keytar," Alya pointed out. Everyone agreed.

Eventually, everyone was laying down and yawning through their banter. Half the group genuinely tired, of course, but the other half suffering caffeine crash too. Adrien had the volume down low on the keyboard and was plinking out actual piano pieces as best he could. It had a pretty soothing effect.

"I think the other two are asleep," Marinette said to him in a low voice.

"Getting there," Nino muttered. "My girl's down for the count already though, yeah."

Marinette chuckled. "Alright, well goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight," Adrien said. He paused playing the keyboard. "Oh, should I stop?"

"No, no, it's really nice," Marinette said. "Keep playing as long as you want."

"Yeah, dude."

"Cool." Adrien sounded happy and continued playing.

"I'll just turn out the lights," Marinette said, getting up.

"Thanks, Mari. Oh, and fair warning, don't sleep too close to Adrien. He's got some kinda weird cheese smell going, like all the time. He covers it up with cologne but now that it's so late, you're not safe."

"Dude, shut up!"

"'Strue. Just saying."

Marinette flushed at the implication she'd be close enough to Adrien to smell whatever he smelled like, cheese or not. She pushed the thought away, taking one last look into their blanket fort at her friends while she stood at the light switch. Alya was sleeping cuddled up to Nino, who was drifting off himself with an arm around her as he watched her peaceful face with a gentle smile. Adrien was at the other end, her childhood toy of a keyboard on his stomach as he played with one hand, laying on his other arm with eyes closed and looking utterly contented.

She was glad they could get him to feel that way, for the hours they all spent together where she got to see him act like she'd never seen before, so clearly enjoying himself. It had been a good night. Marinette smiled and turned out the lights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I came here to tease Marinette about Chat Noir and honestly, I'm feeling so attacked right now." - Adrien Agreste
> 
> I got to achieve #hugadrien2k16 last chapter, and now #feedadrien2k16. *fistpump*
> 
> Something I wanted to throw out there: This entire sleepover (fic, really) is culturally so Amerocentric and I apologize. I'm Filipina-Canadian with no European family. My upbringing really hasn't given me the familiarity with French culture to pay proper homage, as much as I wish I did, and search engines haven't helped. Film-wise I only know Amélie, some old films from secondary school French class, and what wins awards at Cannes. Add in my love for things mid-century and earlier, and I only kinda know Edith Piaf and Django Reinhardt. Apologies to any French and European readers there may be. OTL
> 
> Someone pointed out in comments that being ace is not mutually exclusive with reacting like 'damn ur bobbies,' which I feel I implied here. I am incorrect in that, pls be aware one can be ace and like a boob or two.


	5. Mutually Assured Dorkstruction Pt3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien get to bond, just the two of them, with everyone else in the house asleep. All good things (and operations) must come to an end, however. As Saturday morning begins, the sleepover ends, but there have clearly been some far reaching changes.

  

> ［ＢＬＡＮＫ  ＰＡＧＥ］

 

Adrien's heart was beating noticeably faster than his usual resting rate. It was the tea, he told himself. Though once in a while, certain thoughts would simply bubble up. 'Marinette is right there,' 'She's right beside me, 'She's so close.' _'I hope she doesn't actually smell cheese off me.'_  He hadn't been able to sleep at all.

So, being awake, he felt her absence when she got up at some point. The fort felt weirdly lacking until she returned.

He had gotten up himself once to check on Plagg and found he was failing spectacularly to ration his generous camembert supply, but Adrien had to be silent and could only gesticulate angrily. The kwami just snickered. Jerk.

Now Adrien was laying on his stomach, pushing and pulling at the cushioning in front of him. He was incredibly bored. He was fulfilling his sleepover duty of staying up alright, but none of his bros were awake with him. Had Nino had been messing with him and he just didn't realize it? Whatever, he decided to close his eyes and just relax as much as he could.

From beside him, Marinette said softly, "He looks like Papa kneading dough."

Adrien opened his eyes to look over. When he caught her eyes, hers widened and she blushed. "O-oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake- uh? Disturb you?"

"Oh, no," Adrien sighed in relief. "Not at all. I was awake, just really bored. I'm glad you're up too."

She smiled and said, "I see you found the dolls I made."

"Oh, yeah, I couldn't help but notice," Adrien said, turning to his side so he could pick the two up and play out a scene with them. It was childish, he supposed, but the strange state of caffeine hyperactivity/tiredness was doing a number on his inhibitions.

"Oh Ladybug, you never fail to impress me. I wish we could be partners in all things, including..." He deepened his voice, "Love."

"Chat Noir!" Adrien continued in a high voice. "You dashing, handsome daredevil, of course I feel the same way."

He pushed their faces together, making smoochy noises.

She snorted and gestured for the Ladybug doll. When he handed it over, she used it's arm to bop the Chat doll's head. "Were you daydreaming again, alley cat? It better not have been about anything indecent!"

"Of course not, my lady! How little you think of me," Adrien pouted. He even tilted the doll's head down to make it look like Chat was hanging his head.

He was surprised by Marinette pushing the front of the Ladybug doll's face to the side of Chat's. Her voice was gentle as she said, "Cheer up, kitty."

Adrien looked up to meet her eyes with surprise to see her expression mirror his. They both blushed, chuckling nervously, and looked away, laying the dolls down. He couldn't believe his heart was beating faster over a plushie-proxy cheek kiss.

Marinette spoke again first, "I can't believe you're a ladynoir shipper."

"What, you're not? At all?" He looked over and so did she.

"No," she wrinkled her nose. It was the cutest thing to ever dishearten him so much. "Can't a girl and a guy be close without having to be a couple?"

"Well... Of course. I just feel like they have a good dynamic," he said, looking at the dolls laying down beside each other. "They just always seem to have so much fun together, you know? I guess that could be just a friends thing too, but Chat's clearly into her, and maybe, if she gave him a shot, she'd find it'd be fun to be together that way too."

She exhaled and looked like she was really giving it thought. "Still. The city's counting on them, imagine if they got together for fun then had a big fight or even worse, falling out. Remember when Alix and Kim had all that drama and they could barely function in gym class?"

"Yeah, oh man, that was so weird. The most awkward thing ever."

"And they're not even a couple... I think. It's hard to tell sometimes."

"I know, right?" The both chuckled, making Alya groan sleepily.

"Oh," Marinette said in a lower voice than before. "She's a light sleeper. We should- uh, well, if you want, we could grab a midnight snack? Or, post-midnight, I guess."

"Sounds good, I'm not sleeping any time soon at all," Adrien said. He eyed his backpack. "You first, I'm going to, uh, lie down a bit more."

She shot him a concerned look but nodded. "Yeah, yeah, you should probably lie down a bit more and, uh, keep an eye on Alya for me? So... So, if she starts waking up, you can, like, tell me to be quieter."

"Right? Okay." Adrien did as he was told though it was pretty nonsensical, he thought. He heard her shuffling around a bit, not directly for the stairs. Probably girl things? Maybe she was too embarrassed to tell him.

Once she did go downstairs, he crept over to his bag and scruffed Plagg mid-bite. "Plagg!" he hissed, "I told you, save it. It still has to last for tomorrow morning too."

"You've gotten to eat all you want and now you're going to eat even more!" He retorted.

Adrien grumbled, putting his button-up shirt back on and gesturing for him to get in. "I'll sneak you more cheese if they have it. Probably no camembert but at least you can restock a little."

Plagg flew into his inside pocket so fast it pulled the shirt half over.

Adrien came downstairs to find Marinette in the kitchen, softly lit, gathering cookies on a plate and setting it gently down on the kitchen counter. Adrien went to sit down in front of it. Before taking one to eat, he turned to Marinette and asked, "Hey do you have any cheese?"

She gave him look. Right. Nino told her about the cheese smell. Stupid Plagg. Stupid Nino. Graciously, she still said, "Yeah, just let me get some into cubes for you."

"Thanks," he said sheepishly. He ate his cookie moodily.

"I'm going to pour myself some milk first, do you want some too?"

"Yes, please." Would dousing himself in milk negate any cheese odours? Maybe, but he didn't want to get milk all over the Marinette's kitchen. He muttered thanks as the glasses were set down. Hers across from him. Oh no.

If this meant she'd sit on the other side of the counter, _they'd be looking directly at each other._  This would make cheese smuggling that much harder. She set down a plate of cheese cubes by the cookies. Then she walked around him towards the other side.

Damn it.

Then Adrien realized he was in double jeopardy because _they were looking directly at each other._ Her hair was still down but now it was tousled from laying down which achieved the impossible: making her look even more beautiful and cute. And _he was looking directly at her._  He looked slightly aside to take a big gulp of milk. The low lighting made everything feel so oddly intimate.

Oh, man. Okay. Focus on the objective. Even out of the suit, he was quicker than he'd ever been before receiving his miraculous. He could hustle this cheese fast. He only needed a momentary distraction.

"Hey," Adrien said, pointing vaguely behind Marinette. "What's that?"

Really? That's your plan? Who would fall for that? He wanted to slap himself on the head.

Marinette turned around.

She fell for it. He couldn't believe she fell for it.

As she squinted at the far wall, searching for whatever could have caught his attention, Adrien stuffed cheese into his pockets as hastily as he could without attracting her attention. How had his life come to this?

"What, the art scroll?"

"No, no, the uh..." He purposefully let his sentence trail off and hang.

"Oh! You must mean the tap dancing shoes. They're unusual, alright-" She turned and Adrien stuffed the cheese he had been holding into his mouth. She looked down with disbelief at the cheese plate, almost completely emptied in a few scant moments. He wanted to die. "... You really like cheese, huh?"

"It's... A weakness of mine," Adrien grinned shakily. "So, uh, you were saying, the shoes?"

"Right... Right. Well, they're Papa's. It's not just Chaplin, he likes all sorts of old Hollywood movies. I was basically raised on them. Alya says I get the facial expressions and slapstick-level bad luck and clumsiness from Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton," Marinette said, with a very fitting Chaplin-esque look of exasperation. "Maybe she's right."

"Well, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing," Adrien smiled. "As long as you don't get hurt, at least."

"Haha... Well, I am pretty resilient," she ruffled her hair shyly. Adrien leaned on a fist to his mouth because this was not fair what she was doing to him. There should be a cap on level of cuteness one person could contain. "A-Anyway! Back to Papa, he takes after Gene Kelly, lucky guy. He was an inspiration for Papa, who's always been really big, people would always think he was scary at first. But he figured if he could tell them he was a tap dancer that would make them think twice, right? Kelly's movies always made him happy- they always make me happy too- and he was actually a big guy too, especially for a dancer. He played American football before he discovered dance was what he really wanted to do. Tap didn't turn out so well for Papa, but he likes keeping the shoes around as a memento. He's still pretty graceful, though! He moves around the bakery without ever bumping into things or tripping, even when it gets crowded."

She spoke animatedly, eyes looking far off with love and admiration for her dad and for the old celebrity. Then she snapped back to reality. "Oh! I'm sorry for rambling. I don't really have a filter right now, I'm feeling all weird."

"I know what you mean, I'm the same way right now," Adrien's chuckled. "That was nice, please don't apologize. It was cool to learn and I think it's great he kept them."

"Yeah," she smiled fondly. Then a strange look passed over her. She pointed over Adrien's shoulder. "Uh, speaking of mementos, look at that one!"

He turned. It just looked like a normal kitchen without any embellishments to him. Oh. The fridge had pictures on it. "The picture with people in a pagoda?" It looked like they were sheltering from the sun in a park, telltale wrappers and bags from a picnic in the frame. Must have been from family in China.

"No, no, the uh, other one..."

Adrien zeroed in on an old photo and chuckled in disbelief. He turned around and was taken aback by how all the cookies had disappeared. "Wow, you really did need a snack."

She giggled and shrugged, hands up. "Sorry, did you want more?"

"Oh, no, thank you. Anyway," He quirked a brow with a smirk, "I can't believe you had a bowlcut as a kid."

There was a momentary look of panic on her face before it melted into embarrassment. So not the picture she meant, but he couldn't help teasing now. "It's a good look on you, you should do it again."

"Ugh, no! I managed to convince maman to let me start having other haircuts for école primaire and I am never going back. Never."

"Didn't _make the cut?_ "

"You're so cheesy," she said, starting to take the now empty plates and glasses to the sink. Then, with a look of realization, she put her head in a hand. "Damn it."

"You do like puns!"

"Don't sound so happy. I can't help it. Unbelievably, the three most important guys in my life are all punsters."

"Three? Your dad must be one, so who's the other two?"

"O-Oh, just- no one you would know," she said, hurriedly walking around to put the dishes in the sink.

"Hmmm," Adrien thought about it anyway. He was just making headway with a real friendship now, he couldn't be one. Even as Chat Noir, he could count the number of times they interacted on one hand. Nino only punned to play around with him and they were usually alone when that happened. She didn't seem that close to any other guys they knew mutually. Guess it really wasn't anyone he'd know.

He realized with a start that he could feel her watching him. He looked down at the counter and shifted his eyes back and forth. Oh man. She hadn't noticed the less than honestly acquired cheese, had she? Was some sticking out of a pocket? Cautiously, he turned to look at her, but her head shot back to the sink before they could make eye contact. He suppressed a groan. She finished up washing the dishes, putting them on a drying rack.

"I'm just going to go upstairs again," Adrien mumbled. He had to rid himself of Plagg and his accursed cheese. "Having my shirt on again is too warm after all. Are you gonna stay down here? We can watch another movie or stream something?"

"Oh, sure. I need to check on something up there too but I'll wait until after you- uh, that is, I'll get us set up first. What kind of stuff do you want to watch? We'll wake everyone up laughing if it's Chaplin again."

"I... uh, like foreign films and animation," Adrien said, carefully choosing his phrasing.

"Oh, what country's your favourite?"

"Japan." Damn it. Why. He had been so careful. Then he answered too quickly and blew it. "Oh, but, I'd rather watch one of those dance movies you mentioned your dad likes so much! Yup. Definitely. I'm going to leave you to it, bye."

Adrien carefully went back up averting her gaze. They said the eyes were the window to the soul and he did not need her to peer into his weeaboo soul. Once upstairs, he looked to see that Nino and Alya were still sound asleep. He grinned at the sight of them cuddled together before opening his bag and muttering, "Alright, Plagg, back in- and remember, this has to last you all night and morning."

"Yeah, yeah, got it. Give me my fix!"

"Seriously, you have a problem," Adrien said. He emptied his pockets of the dishonest cheese, dumping it on top of his kwami, meaning to smother him as a show of annoyance. Instead, Plagg stretched his arms, gleeful over the shower of cheese. Adrien slid off his shirt, balled it up, and chucked it down on him. That made him grumble. Satisfied, Adrien zippered his bag shut again.

He went downstairs to switch off with Marinette and was puzzled to see the living room area the same. She had bowls and things on the counter now, though. "What's this? We're not watching anything?"

"You'll see," she smiled mysteriously as she went briskly by him. The speed made her loose hair trail, he noted. He could not decide if he wanted her to wear it down more or keep wearing it up, for the sake of his health. Maybe breathing exercises would help?

He decided to look over at the counter while he waited. Besides the bowl, a scale, a jug, a board, a bag of flour, some sugar, and a packet of- he read it- active dry yeast. He heard Marinette come back and she must have caught his puzzled expression as he turned to look at her. She gave him a big grin. He still didn't get what was happening but couldn't help but smile back. She had a couple of blankets and pillows she threw onto the couch before she asked, "Ready to make your first loaf of bread?"

Adrien balked. "What? I don't know the first thing about baking. I've never even made- er, anything actually."

"I thought that might be the case," she said. "But I thought about how it looked like you were kneading and I think everyone should try making bread at least once! It's so satisfying, especially the first time. Don't worry, this is as beginner as it gets. A basic white loaf like you see in the supermarkets, just infinitely better because it's actually yeasted and handmade! Besides, I'll help you through the whole thing."

"Well," he scanned over the supplies several times. "I really would like to try. I'm sure I'll be alright if you're with me all the way, right?"

"Of course! You can do this, I'll help."

"Alright... Alright, yeah!"

"Okay, first measuring things into the bowl," she started. Adrien couldn't help but look between it and the picture of young bowlcut Marinette on the fridge. She followed his eyes and rolled her eyes. "Focus, Adrien. I swear, that awful bowlcut traumatized me and made me get into fashion. Room temperature water, first. The yeast wants to be comfy just like us."

"That's a cute way of putting it," Adrien smiled as he measured it out carefully. She coughed suddenly before saying he didn't have to be so precise, but he made sure the scale came up exactly as needed anyway. "I know you're joking but I seriously doubt you got into fashion over a bowlcut. You must have been born with it or got into it because of something you actually liked."

A bit too much. He poured out a little and weighed again. Marinette sighed. He continued speaking.

"You're all really passionate about something. Nino and his music- he's crazy about movies too, even if it's kinda secondary. There's Alya and her journalism and comics. Then there's you and fashion design, of course! I wonder if it's what made me attracted to youuu guys. You guys. What made me want to be such good friends with you all," Adrien chuckled weakly. "I... envy you all a little. I wish I had something like that."

He put the exact specified amount of water in the bowl with probably more pride than water measurement should inspire.

"I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for," Marinette said. "Here, this much sugar- Well, you like science right? Why not become a scientist? Especially with how precise you're being over all this. It's just bread."

"Bread's important," he countered. "Can I get a knife to level this off or something?"

"If it makes you feel better," she said, handing him a tableknife.

"Thanks, it does. If I could be one like the oldschool scientists, you know, Darwin observing different species on Galapagos, Fleming accidentally discovering penicillin, then of course! In a heartbeat! Now, from what I hear, it's- well, I've read 'soul-crushing' from some students," he said, putting in the sugar then looking for her reaction. Marinette was wincing. "Right? All about grants and publications instead of actual progress."

"Now around- God, Adrien. Fine, _exactly_  450g of flour. It can't all be like that, right? You could find the right lab with the right attitude."

"Maybe. Maybe even end up at CNES, or CERN- working on the LHC or another particle accelerator. It'd have to be luck, though, and I've never had good luck. I still don't feel as strongly about it all as the three of you feel about what you're all into. If I'm not passionate enough about it to push through all the crap before finding a nice lab, or good enough at it, or both..." Adrien sighed. "I guess it'd be better than modeling, at least. Father has said there's also the business side of the company, but I don't know. I've seen how cut-throat he's been- had to be, he says. That's not me."

He moodily spooned out a bit of excess flour. Then carefully shook in more because he was at 449g.

"Happy now? Alright, the packet of yeast. Which you don't have to measure, just dump it in. Anyway, I still think it's totally worth pursuing shooting people into space or making miniature black holes," Marinette said, earning an amused snort. "But if you don't think so, Mr. Cynical-"

"-Realistic," he cut in, flicking the packet and checking for any grains left in it.

"Whatever. Then what do you want to do? Ideally?" She asked, handing him a wooden spoon. "Here, stir it together until it just starts getting stringy."

Adrien stirred silently for a while, not looking up from the bowl. He could feel her waiting. "Promise not to laugh?"

"Of course not!"

"... House husband."

There was a pause that Adrien thought might be the calm before the storm of laughter. He examined the batter in the bowl intensely for any stringiness. Then he heard Marinette whisper, "Oh my God, that's so sweet."

He looked up at her to find the warmest, most sincere smile on her face and glimmer in her big blue eyes, clear even in the soft light. It was infectious, making him slowly smile too and his heart warm so much it couldn't be contained. That comfortable heat spread through his chest and stomach. He glanced shyly back down in the bowl, unable to keep looking for a moment. But just a moment- he wanted too much to see the look in her eyes again. They gazed at each other until he couldn't take it anymore and showed her the inside of the bowl. "So... Stringy like this?"

"Uh, yeah- yup, that's great," she said then sort of hunched up and looked aside, still smiling. "Uh, another 115g of flour, and keep stirring. It should get thick enough it starts pulling off the sides of the bowl."

"Alright," he said. They were silent again as he stirred. They didn't look at each other again but it was a companionable silence. She had seemed so... Supportive of anything he said he might like to be, he ended up going on, "Being a house husband... I know I'll probably have to work too, realistically, but you said ideally. I want to have a family and just, you know, be there for them all the time."

"Yeah," Marinette said. "That sounds like you. I'm sure you'd be a great family man."

"Thanks, that... Means a lot, coming from you," Adrien said. Then cleared his throat, realizing that must have sounded odd. Thankfully, she'd started dusting the wood board with flour and made no comment. He came up beside her. "I think this is like what you said?"

"Perfect. Now comes the fun part! Get the dough on the board, now you get to knead."

"Cool!" Adrien spooned every bit of dough out. Then he frowned. "Wait, how do I knead? What does that mean, like, physically?"

"Oh, right, I shouldn't assume everyone knows," she laughed good naturedly. He felt his frown melt away. "Well, Papa says there are at least as many ways to knead as there are bakers. Basically, you just have to stretch the dough and fold it into itself again over and over. Papa does it kind of like when you were playing with the cushion earlier, just give that a try."

"Okay," he said. He tried to suppress the urge to pun, he really did. "Just... _Dough_ not get upset with me if I'm no good at it, alright?"

She let out a deep, deep sigh.

He knew he was pushing his luck, but, "How do I know when it's _bready?"_

"Well, I can tell you I'm done right now," she said. She was smiling when he looked over, though. "I'll tell you when, just keep going."

"I hear you _loaf_  and clear."

"Okay, that one was a bit of a reach."

Adrien pushed and pulled and folded in a way that felt natural and comforting, even. She wasn't correcting him so he supposed it was fine. He just realized he felt a little like nodding off when he caught himself. Idly, he thought this must be the most at ease he had felt the entire sleepover. Marinette was right there beside him, watching him even, but unlike when he was laying in the fort, it didn't make him nervous at all. It felt nice.

"That looks good now," she said. "Here, tear off a bit of dough and roll it up between your palms. Papa can just tell, but if you're not sure or you're just learning, there's this thing called the windowpane test. You stretch it out like this- careful not to tear it- then hold it up to the light. See? We can see light through it so it's good. Work our little bits back in."

He complied then she walked him through forming it into a tight ball and setting it to rest so it could rise. "How long will it take?"

"An hour or two," she shrugged. He pouted. "Oh, don't look like that. We'll watch a movie while we wait, I know the perfect one. Let's wash up first, though."

"Why do we have to wait so long?" Adrien asked as they shared the sink.

"The yeast is doing it's thing, making gas," she shrugged. "All the kneading was about forming gluten to hold it in. Papa can explain it to you in _excruciating_  detail, ask him in the morning. I'm sure you'd both love it."

"I would! Remind me if I forget, okay?"

Marinette gave him a wry smile as she handed him a kitchen towel to dry off with. "Alright, you big nerd."

He smirked back for a moment, before looking down at the towel in his hands. They were dry already, he really was just kind of wringing it between them now. "Hey... Marinette?"

"Yeah? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, just... Is it okay if I call you Mari like the others do?" Or was that too familiar for what they were? Did she even consider him as much of a friend as he did her? Maybe he shouldn't have asked.

"O-Of course! That'd be- I'd love it if you did."

"Really?" Adrien looked up. The stutter worried him, but she was grinning so sincerely, he couldn't help his own smile. He went on, rubbing the back of his neck. "And Marinet- Mari... There's actually something else I wanted to ask too. When I got here, I got hugs hello from your parents, and Nino and Alya, but I never got to- so I was wondering if you wouldn't mind-"

His breath hitched as he realized she had already wrapped her arms around him. He started breathing again, and hugged her back, squeezing tight and resting his head on hers. He felt her relax and tighten her grip too. There was that warmth again, like when she looked into his eyes earlier, just more intense, and all over. A feeling of warmth and ease washed over him, from head to toe. "Thanks," he whispered.

"Of course," she whispered back against his chest. He felt another wave of warmth wash over him. She felt like being by the fireplace when the world outside was frozen with snow.

Mari didn't seem to be making any move to pull away, but he supposed he shouldn't keep her there forever, so he reluctantly parted. He wasn't really sure what to say or do now, when all he wanted was to hug her again and not let go.

He paused.

"No, thanks, really," he said. "I really _kneaded_ that."

She looked up to the heavens with a tight smile and shoved his shoulder, looking back at him. "I can't believe you."

Adrien just managed to remember to stifle his laughter enough so he wouldn't wake anyone. As Mari was setting up the Blu-Ray player and TV- quickly lowering the volume- he set up the pillows and blankets on the couch, nestling in. Turning the volume up again as much as she dared, she asked, "Can you hear clearly? It's really not the same if you can't, being a musical and all. It's my favourite movie, I don't want you to miss out on anything."

"Don't worry, I have really good hearing."

As they watched, he found the dance numbers really were fantastic, and he had to stifle his laughter again at parts. It was a good thing she excitedly let him know when one was coming up, because he found it difficult to focus on the plot. His attention kept drifting to Mari's expression instead most of the time, the changes in lighting level on the TV reflecting on her face, casting her features in different ways as she reacted. She hugged her pillow, smiling like a goof, an utterly captivated goof. Then again, he supposed he had no right to judge.

She was so excited about the famous Singin' In The Rain dance number she actually slapped his arm rapidly to tell him to watch. He had his doubts over it living up to expectations, but watching Kelly kick around puddles and swing his umbrella around in the rain really did plaster a big grin on his face. It truly was the perfect movie choice. Especially for them. He threw her a quick glance. Had she had that in mind?

In any case, she had been right. As the movie ended, he really did feel happy because of it, though probably for reasons different than she thought.

"Oh! The dough, we should check on it now. I hope it didn't overproof- it shouldn't have, but..." Mari scrambled over to the kitchen and Adrien followed.

He was still puzzled by the whole thing but she seemed relieved so it probably hadn't overproofed? He'd have to ask Mr. Dupain-Cheng about that too in the morning. She only gave him a vague answer. She walked him through the rest of the steps until the dough was in a loaf pan and then in the fridge.

"Shouldn't it... go in the oven? The fridge is sort of the opposite of that," he said. She laughed.

"It has to rise one more time and it'll do that slowly when the yeast is cold- the yeast gets lazy when it is, like people in winter," she explained. He chuckled at the way she put it. "We'll bake it in the morning and have it for breakfast!"

"Really? I can't wait!"

"Me neither, I really want to try bread you've made!" She said. Then she started, laughing weakly, "You only get to taste a person's first loaf once and all, right?"

"I'm glad you get to. Everyone else, too. Oh man, they'll be so surprised," Adrien practically bounced.

Mari smiled, which quickly turned into a yawn. "Oh, excuse me. Guess I'm starting to get sleepy now. You?"

"Yeah, same. Though... Is it okay with you if we watch some of the dance scenes again before we go back to the blanket fort? I loved them."

 

* * *

 

> ＯＰＥＲＡＴＩＯＮ  ＥＮＤ

  
Nino, Alya, Tom, and Sabine high fived in the kitchen. Softly. They didn't want to wake the operation subjects. They had planned on a debrief but their success was clear. There was a note on the counter for the parents to take care of the unbaked loaf of bread they had made if they slept in, which to Tom and Sabine seemed about as good as a note that they were getting engaged. The other two took a liberal amount of phone photos of Adrien and Marinette sleeping on the couch nestled in with one another.

As much as Tom and Sabine wanted to let Adrien prep the loaf for baking and put it in the oven himself, they would have to wake him for that. They decided to let the boy sleep. So, while they ran the business, that was left up to Alya and Nino.

"Check it out, we're taking care of Adrien and Mari's baby for them," Nino said. He stood on a chair and held up the loaf pan like it were Simba. He whisper-yelled-sang, "NAAAANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA."

Alya snorted. "Yeah, by cutting it and putting it in an oven. You know the Lion King song by heart?"

"We're the best Godparents ever. Especially since Godfather over here," Nino put the loaf down to point both thumbs at himself. "Is _the_ Disney and Pixar movie guru. That's why your little sisters love me. That and because I'm so handsome and cool."

The oven dinged to signal it was done preheating. Alya picked up the loaf. "They're just easily impressed."

"My baby!" Nino gasped, scandalized, as Alya put it in the oven. "You monster."

"Their baby, and Godmother duties," she said flatly. "Don't accept the title if you can't handle the responsibilities, boy. Now get down off the chair already."

"No. It makes me feel like a strong, independent woman who don't need no man," he crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.

"Fine, weirdo. I'm going downstairs and getting croissants and tarts or whatever to tide us over until the bread's done."

"Yes! I love you, you strong, independent woman who don't need no man," Nino called after her.

Alya took longer than she thought downstairs. She was happily given the treats along with permission to go back upstairs, but the Saturday morning rush was in full force and she wasn't one to walk away knowing Tom and Sabine could use help. She was down there maybe twenty minutes but when she returned, Nino was still standing on the chair, casually using his phone.

She put the platter of appetizers on the counter and regarded her boyfriend. "Why."

He shrugged. "I didn't feel like moving."

Apparently, it would still be at least another half hour, probably more, until the loaf would be ready but the delicious, yeasty smell was already filling the floor. It roused the two sleeping figures awake. Alya plopped down beside Marinette and said, cheekily grinning at them, "Good morning, sunshines."

They mumbled their good mornings.

"Bro, why you on that chair?" Adrien lolled his head at Nino.

"I was being the Rafiki to your baby."

"What."

Nino looked up from his phone with a casual smile. "You know, yours and Mari's baby."

"What!?" Adrien and Marinette yelled in tandem. Then, from the proximity of their voices and being rudely awoken, noticed how they were snuggled up together. They jumped apart, faces burning.

"Yeah, I slashed it with a knife and put it in a two hundred degree oven," Alya waved a hand flippantly. Adrien looked horrified and confused.

"Oh," Marinette said with her face in her hands. "The bread."

"I think I'll ask your dad about the baking stuff now," Adrien muttered. He disentangled himself from the blankets quickly and went down the steps. He even more quickly came slinking back up to grab some croissants before leaving for real.

Nino finally hopped down from his chair to put the rest of the food on the coffee table and scoot between the girls so he could put both arms on the backrest behind them. "Morning, Mari, did you guys make out?"

That made her flail. He got a backhand in the nose but still snickered.

"No! Oh my God! I hate you two," Marinette said, before reaching out to get a tart. Nino asked for one too and she glared at him but handed him one anyway.

"Girl, you love us," Alya said. She turned on the TV and everyone watched Saturday morning cartoons, Adrien returning and joining them after a while. He sat by Marinette a respectable distance away. He said Tom explained everything and it was more chemistry than anything, not really his wheelhouse, but interesting nonetheless. He really liked how the lactobactilli in sourdough were regionally specific so the bread was always different depending on where you were.

Everyone mostly ignored his geeking out as they watched TV and ate.

As time went on, Adrien slowly leaned more and more towards the oven until he was sprawled over the armrest, watching the oven timer. His leg kicked back and forth a little idly, hitting Marinette's softly. Eventually, she looked over and said, "You- you know it's not going to go any faster if you stare at it, right?"

He groaned. "It smells so good..."

When it finally was ready to come out of the oven, Marinette put it on a cooling rack and said they had to let it sit for a while. He cried out in anguish. It brought Sabine running up, but the other three teens let her know he was just being a big baby.

She giggled. "No, I understand. I'm sure I felt the same way the first time I made bread. Business is slowing down, why don't we close up a little so we can all eat together. That is, if you don't want to take it home, Adrien?"

"No, ma'am! I'd love if everyone finished it here," Adrien responded quickly.

Sabine smiled. "Then I'll get Tom and we'll set up breakfast for everyone. The loaf should have cooled enough by then."

It was a simple meal, just fruits, hot chocolate, jams and spreads, and of course the bread. Nothing fancy. It was the best meal Adrien had ever eaten, hands down.

"Oh my God, dude, marry me," Nino said blissfuly.

"You're practically already married," Alya pointed out. "This is amazing though, really. I've never had bread fresh out of the oven before."

Marinette hummed in agreement. "It's great! Anyway, The Gorilla's driving you all home, right? Just stop by town hall and get a marriage certificate."

Adrien let his friends banter, too happy to speak. He caught Tom and Sabine's eye. They both nodded approvingly, Tom with a wink and saying, "It really is good- and don't go saying it's just cause our Mari helped out, son. You put in the most important thing and that's something only the baker themselves can add."

Adrien looked at him quizzically.

Tom made a heart shape with his hands, putting it over his chest. "Love."

Everyone laughed, Sabine elbowing her husband.

Maybe it was just that Tom was just as dramatic as Adrien, but that sounded right to him. If there was one word for what he felt spending time with his friends and these welcoming parents as they enjoyed something he had made himself, it was love.

Tom and Sabine piled up three bags high with baked goods for each of the departing friends, accepting no argument. As The Gorilla pulled up in the familiar silver sedan, Adrien hugged the Dupain-Chengs goodbye. If you asked the others, he lingered with Marinette and maybe he really did because they had ample time to exchange smug looks of accomplishment before the two pulled away from one another.

Despite it being a squeeze between three people, overnight bags, and bakery bags, Alya, Nino, and Adrien all piled into the back seat. Alya was dropped off first, the difficult to execute but absolutely necessary goodbye hug a little awkward. With more room, the hug was a rousing success when Nino was dropped off.

He was about to get out of the car when he turned and asked Adrien, "So? Is it _like that_ after all?"

Adrien simply stared at his best friend for a moment. Then he nodded a little, slowly. Nino threw him a knowing grin and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda struggled with this chapter but I hope you enjoyed it and I didn't geek out too much about Golden Age Hollywood and bread. Seriously though, Singin' In The Rain is great and rewatching it for the fic made me think of everyone as Ladybug chars- Don as Adrien (Chat), Kathy as Mari, Cosmo as Nino, and Lena as Chloe. I'm in this fandom too deep.
> 
> I'm trying to ground character quirks in canon show hints and pieces but I kinda have to take some stuff and run with it (like clear across the pitch run with it) or just straight up make headcanon since this story is about the little things. Watch how much of this gets shattered by future seasons lmao
> 
> As always, thanks for your support and I'm always happy to engage (read: clown around) with you all in the comments!


	6. Click

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things begin to click for Marinette.

Fuck Chat Noir. N-Not like- oh, Marinette knew what she meant. Fuck her brain too, apparently.  
  
Especially when it made her write whatever she was thinking without meaning to. Face burning, she blacked out what she had just written on an index card with her permanent marker, nothing but a long black rectangle now. Like a redacted section of a classified document. She put that one in her recycling bin on top of those old clippings of Adrien's ads that now seemed too dishonest, too disconnected with the boy she adored.  
  
That's who her thoughts, even if unwanted and thirsty thoughts, should be with.

There had always been a reason Ladybug departed as quickly as possible after both akuma battles and the end of patrol, keeping the latter all business when Chat tried to use the general lack of urgency to make sly conversation. At first, it was just because she was apparently the only half of the partnership with a sense of professionalism and discretion.  
  
Marinette grabbed and opened a new box of push-pins. She didn't have a corkboard but the plaster did just fine, just fine.  
  
Adrien had a point. Chat was fun. A lot of fun. The stress of being a secret teenage superhero would have gotten to be too much by now if he wasn't constantly making the scary seem silly. Not that it got to her mid-battle; when people needed Ladybug, there wasn't a fear in her mind. Post-battle Marinette was a different matter. There were times she would have been haunted by some horrifying aspect of an akuma battle if it weren't for him. She'd remember him snickering at his own stupid joke or taking a comedic tumble and that would start her laughing away all the anxiety roiling inside her.  
  
She snipped off a length of red yarn. It was thick enough that the needle of the push-pin had plenty to fasten onto. Marinette repressed a mental urge to make a joke about how Chat could spin a yarn. She sure as hell wasn't going to pick up his humour, even if she had to appreciate it.  
  
His attitude was one of the reasons she had no problem befriending him quickly, despite his flirting. For that matter, it was a reason she didn't shut that down from the start. She had regretted not nipping it in the bud sometimes, but honestly, she hadn't felt that way for a long time.  
  
Marinette couldn't remember when she had started flirting back. Or when it had actually started making her heart do stupid things it shouldn't do because of the silly tomcat- only Adrien was allowed to do that, damn it.  
  
And her heart shouldn't feel sore that he had barely been flirting recently. Even what he had been saying could be taken more as cheeky compliments than actual flirting. Marinette sighed and plopped down in her computer chair. Her computer's browser had tabs upon tabs of pages with information and speculation about Chat Noir open. She slid over to the wall she was working on and looked over it again, needlessly. She'd already looked it over countless times. So, so many times. She just couldn't stop.  
  
Ladybug shouldn't have said, "You make things so complicated," after patrol last night. They had been looking out over the skyline of the city they served and loved in silence. It just slipped out. Then she realized it had. Then she said a speedy goodnight and made an even speedier retreat.  
  
When she looked back, he was closer to her on the roof than where they had been sitting with one another. He was watching, baton extended. He must have began to pursue her, _'What did that mean?'_   But he had respected the wish she didn't even have to voice for her partner to leave it alone.  
  
That was why she avoided spending more time with him than necessary. Because she wanted to, and didn't want to want to.  
  
Her partner was driving her mad- scratch that- he had already driven her mad. It was fine, though.  
  
It'd all be fine once she had disproven this crazy idea that was probably just born out of desperate hope.  
  
Oh God, this really was crazy, wasn't it?  
  
Her trapdoor opened and the expression that cut off whatever her maman was going to say confirmed that yes, it was completely insane.  
  
The largest wall in her room was covered in two slightly parted smatterings of haphazardly placed index cards written on with the hasty scrawls of a madman in permanent marker, often ended by a large question mark, or several question marks, or a combination of the two. Some had been angrily covered by wild strokes of the same marker to slash over the words. Some had been circled repeatedly. Several had words crossed or X'd out, at times repeatedly so there were more stamped out words than actual legible words. Most were in large all capital letters. Red yarn connected cards by the pushpins that held them to the wall. The small blank space between the groups of cards was criss-crossed by that red yarn, like the line investigators used to track the trajectory of spent rounds at a crime scene. But they weren't strictly across the groups. Red went from pin to pin in ways that made sense only to her. It was a sight straight out of a movie about some conspiracy theorist, no doubt ending in their being dragged to a mental asylum.  
  
"I... I'll leave you alone," Sabine said slowly, closing the trapdoor with a creak.  
  
Just as slowly, she opened it again just enough to peek at her daughter and say, "Alya seems good with that kind of stuff. You need- I mean, if you would like help."  
  
"Maman, this is something I have to do myself," Marinette said, meeting her eyes with an intense gaze. "Don't let Alya or anyone else know."  
  
"Oooookay," Sabine responded and left. Despite her slow, creaking movement to close the trapdoor, it always was a heavy thing. It closed with a thud that echoed in Marinette's attic room.  
  
It had been true, no one else could see what she had written, least of all Alya. Vague, coded words could probably fool her parents. She would undoubtedly figure out it was an attempt to compare one (1) Adrien Agreste and one (1) Chat Noir.  
  
There were way too many connections.  
  
She didn't like that she was doing this- it was so hypocritical, invasive. She was the one who insisted on identity secrecy even between partners, and many of the things in the splatter of Adrien cards she had only learned in the days since the sleepover- things said in confidence to a friend. It'd all be fine once she disproved it once and for all, though. It wouldn't matter. It'd all be fine. Just fine.  
  
Marinette had not realized she was rocking back and forth in the fetal position.

 

* * *

  
  
It had all started the Monday after the sleepover. At lunch that day, the boys had taken them to their favourite park at some point. The subject of music had come up, prompting the memory of Adrien dancing. Then, perhaps because of the setting, the memory of Chat 'acting natural' came up. She had stared at Adrien then. They did the running man, Gangnam style, and moonwalk the exact same way. They moved the same way. They were both _always posing._  
  
No, that was ridiculous, she couldn't base speculation on her superhero partner's secret identity on his stupid dance moves when there were thousands of other teenage boys with those stupid dance moves in the city. But it could and did start her mind unwillingly comparing him with her crush all the time.  
  
At the end of the day, when Adrien had to get in his bodyguard driven car and leave, he hugged them all goodbye. It was a tentative thing first, he was clearly unsure if he was being weird and crossing some social boundary he hadn't learned due to lack of peer interaction. Of course everyone hugged the poor, precious boy back. They weren't monsters. It was the start of regular habit.  
  
For some reason, though she was still overcoming trouble speaking with him without stuttering and not being nervous about his attention being on her, that close physical contact never made her feel awkward. The way they casually put their arms around each other was just that- casual. They never bumped arms accidentally going in for the hug in the same way, which even he and Nino did sometimes. It felt fluid, natural, and effortless. Being in his arms not only made her feel safe but protective as well, in a way that held some sort of bone deep familiarity. Like when Ladybug and Chat Noir had to grab or hold the other for the sake of safety or executing maneuvers. When she vented about it to Tikki, the kwami had reminded her that Ladybugs and Chats Noirs had been two halves of one whole for millenia past.  
  
Then again, maybe they were just good huggers and she was just overthinking it. Tikki was a romantic and this was a matter of reason.  
  
That one time was definitely weird and hard to explain otherwise though: She, Alya, and Nino realized they had lost Adrien somewhere along the way when they were taking a shortcut back to school. Backtracking, calling his name, they found him standing in a box, so large only his eyes peeked out, by the ramp of some small business' loading dock. When words failed to coax him out- he just stared and moved his head rapidly at sudden movements like birds taking off- Nino tried to go and physically remove him. Adrien swatted at his best friend. He only snapped out of it when Nino sighed and, in a way that said this was a regular occurrence, wet his hand with his water bottle to flick it at Adrien, making him flinch and look shocked. He climbed back out of the box looking embarrassed.  
  
"Adrien, my man, my brother... We talked about this," Nino said patiently, both hands on his friend's shoulders.  
  
Adrien hung his head and said, "I know."  
  
He followed the group bashfully, hands in his pockets, slinking just behind them the rest of the way.  
  
Maybe he had just had a slight case of agoraphobia and hated others getting water in his face, but the coincidences kept piling up and puzzle pieces kept fitting. Marinette needed a linchpin. One thing she would try, something that wasn't too obvious, to test once and for all if her suspicions were correct.

 

* * *

  
  
This was stupid. Then again, Chat Noir was stupid, so whatever. This had a good chance of working.  
  
He and Ladybug had several routes for nightly patrols, each covering every arrondissement of Paris. They rarely used the same one more than twice in a row, to throw off anyone who might be trying to tail them. The idea of having several routes was hers, and she had initially planned to never use the same one more than _once_ in a row, but Chat had pointed out that true randomness meant possible repeats (nerdy, particular: another shared trait with Adrien), so now they had the routes numbered and went by a calendar Chat made every month using a random number generator. A random number generator based on atmospheric noise so it was _truly_ random, not _pseudo-random_ as computer algorithms were. He had tried to explain the difference, but it all went over her head, so she just zipped away.  
  
Okay, he was really smart sometimes. Some of their best fight plans had come from him. Her current plan? Ridiculous, but she was sure it would work without him catching on anyway.  
  
Ladybug usually took point, but no route was without lengths of darkness where it was safer to let Chat Noir lead. That was when she would execute her plan.  
  
She saw Chat's ear twitch back towards her. "My lady? Did you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?" She replied. "It's probably something too quiet for me."  
  
"No, no, I'm sure you'd hear it too. There's been this clicking noise once in a while the entire night. Actually, not just this night, it keeps happening."  
  
"I don't hear anything. Are you sure you're not just hearing things? Like that ringing people get, what's it called..."  
  
"Tinnitus?"  
  
"Yeah, that's it."  
  
"This definitely isn't ringing, it's clicking. I'll have to look up if there's anything like tinnitus for clicking, though, this is weird."  
  
"Yeah, weird. Hope it isn't anything serious."  
  
Of course, she knew exactly what it was. A small gap between roofs was coming up- well, small in Chat's standards, she would have to swing and it'd be suicide even for a champion track athlete with Olympic gold in running jump. He crouched. She clicked. His ears swiveled at the noise. When he landed, he looked back and swept his gaze behind him curiously.  
  
"There it was again," he said. He looked at her, but didn't seem the least suspicious.  
  
"I don't know what to tell you, chaton, I didn't hear anything."

 

* * *

  
  
The students of Collège Françoise Dupont had a habit of standing around the bottom of the stairs to the courtyard when they had free time before dispersing for lunch or after school. It meant the test would be unsafe. What an inconvenience.  
  
There was no way Adrien could delay leaving the school, and thus going down the stairs, at day's end even if he wanted. That left lunch as the only option, but they usually left immediately to eat out. Some classmates always packed lunches and stayed to eat where they sat. Marinette tried packing a lunch to get the group of friends to do the same until the inconvenient crowds left. Twice. First, they simply outnumbered her in a decision to eat the meal somewhere else because it was such a nice day. Second, scheduling for a rainy noon, she underestimated the speed at which all of them ate.  
  
This time, she was prepared. It was a rainy noon again. She had made lunch. It was soup, meaning Adrien's impeccable manners would slow him down, and Marinette made conversation non-stop all the while. It still just barely bought her enough time, but when they left, she thanked the heavens that the last stragglers moved on from the front of the steps. She held Alya by the arm, subtly moving just slowly enough to have the two of them lag behind the boys. In her free hand, the clicker. Here was the moment of truth.  
  
The boys reached the top of the stairs.  
  
Click.  
  
Immediately, Adrien swung his umbrella to his lower back, let go, made a crouching jump that easily cleared the entire length of the flight of stairs, and landed on all fours.  
  
Everyone gaped.  
  
Adrien himself was frozen in shock.  
  
"D-Dude!" Nino scrambled down to his friend. "Are you okay? What the fuck was that?!"  
  
"I-I don't- I'm okay, but- What-" Adrien was just as baffled as everyone. Everyone but Marinette. She picked up his discarded umbrella.  
  
Holy _**shit.**_  
  
It was true. Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another rather short chapter, this time because I want to get the next one just right but it's tough going. Might be a while until the next one. If it is, at least you could always use the time to clicker train your crime-fighting partner!
> 
> Before anyone says anything, I know this isn't really what clicker training means, but I needed a trigger to a Pavlovian response that, ideally, was also a pun.


	7. Fear and Loving in Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Marinette decides she's outie with the squad for this lunch, Alya and Adrien find something to bond over. Poor Nino is once again the only normal person around. Try as she might to run from it, the consequences of Marinette's revelation come to a head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sure took longer than usual with this chapter. I usually just thump out a chapter and give it a once over before posting, but I kept fussing with this one. It wasn't that long to write but, even as much I wanted to edit it, I hate editing so much I would procrastinate.
> 
> Will I ever stop making pop culture/media references in this fic? Probably not, but I try to make it so you don't have to know the material to get the scene, at least.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Remember, this isn't the end of the story. Oho no, we're just getting started. Seven chapters is more than I expected to get here, but it don't stop. [Stokes the engine for the fluff train.]

Marinette screamed.  
  
Oh, not when her clicker sent Adrien into a Pavlovian response proving without a doubt that he was Chat Noir. When that happened, placid as a calm lake, she had walked down the stairs, asked him if he was sure he was alright, and returned the umbrella he dropped.  
  
"Really, I'm fine," Adrien had grinned.  
  
"Good. I'm glad." She responded, giving him a couple of awkward, distracted pats on the shoulder. For a moment, her hand rested there. She stared blankly at his face.  
  
Then she booked it, screaming.  
  
She had never run so fast in her life. She was running and yelling like the police had caught her with a kilo of uncut coke. She ran and screamed like a RAID squad had kicked the door down to her combination meth lab-assult weapons armory and a flashbang had rolled to her feet. Alya, Nino, and Adrien were left stunned for the second time in less than three minutes.  
  
"Was," Adrien looked at the others, clutching his umbrella tightly. "Was that because I freaked her out?"  
  
"Uhh, it could be. I mean, I'm used to your, well-" Nino gestured to his friend in his entirety, "Adrien-ness, but she's probably still getting used to it."  
  
"Who knows? Don't worry about it, my girl freaks out for any number of reasons," Alya said. Granted, they were usually reasons directly related to him, but the boy did not need to hear that right now. "I'll text her and ask what that was about."  
  
"Okay. I guess we should wait in case she'll be coming back?"  
  
"We'll see, she's typing right now," Alya said, noting how hopeful he sounded. Oh, this boy had it bad. The operation was a roaring success. _Damn,_ she was good. She texted Marinette back and forth.  
  
"Now that we've established you didn't destroy your wrists and ankles," Nino said to his best friend, grabbing him by the upper arms. "THAT JUMP WAS _SICK._ Holy shit, dude!"  
  
Adrien grinned at him, just a little cocky. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it? I had no idea I could do that when I'm not, well, not usually doing those sort of things, you know? Haha. I don't do a lot of... that. Don't know what came over me. Weird. Cool, but weird."  
  
Alya quirked a brow. Man, this guy was off sometimes. She had been getting the Adrien-ness in description secondhand through her boyfriend for a while now, but now that she was actually hanging out all the time with the real deal? That boy ain't right.  
  
Her phone buzzed again. She read it and shook her head, smiling. "Oh my God, Mari completely forgot about the essay we have to hand in later. That's why she panicked, she'll have to do the entire thing in less than two hours. Hopefully, she remembers to eat."  
  
"Should we go help her?" Adrien asked quickly.  
  
Nino hung his head to one side and shot Alya a tired look over his friend's shoulder. She gave him an _'I know, right?'_ look back. Lord, and Marinette still whined to her about whether he'd always like her purely platonically. "Nah, she specifically said not to come over. No distractions."  
  
"Oh. that makes sense," Adrien muttered. "Well, I'll just text her good luck."  
  
"Come on, buddy," Nino put an arm around his shoulders, guiding him to the school exit. Adrien sullenly tapped out his message. "You still hungry? Huh?"  
  
"A little..." He put his phone away then stuffed his hands in his pockets, kicking at the ground.  
  
"You want to get some sashimi? We'll go to that place with the tuna you like."  
  
"Okay..."  
  
Alya never had to worry about third wheeling anyone when it was all four of the squad together- they were practically double dating all the time, even if the other couple didn't know it. But, when she found the Japanese restaurant Nino had been talking about had a large screen TV that was playing a Studio Ghibli movie as they ate, she had ended up third wheeling her poor boyfriend instead.  
  
Adrien initially tried to hide it, but he didn't have a chance. Between her interviewing skills and his enthusiasm, she discovered he was a weeb. A _deep_ weeb. Meaning he watched tokusatsu as well as anime, something Alya had never encountered in anyone else in real life before. Finding other people as into comics superheroes was hard enough, people into live action Japanese superheroes too? The chance was too good to pass up. Poor Nino was left to eating most of the tempura dish they were sharing, completely lost. They tried explaining it but kept speaking over each other.

"Kamen Riders are like these motorcycle riding superhero armoured bug dudes-"

"Their signature thing is a flying kick, they Rider Kick a monster and fwooosh! _Fireball._ You know they dead."

"Oh and Super Sentai, they're teams of fighters called rangers and they have all their own colours-"

"Colours tend to have similiar personalities across series but the important thing is they all bring something different to the team, like Blues are down to earth and-"

"I'm done," Nino stated evenly as he stared them both right in the eyes looking deadpan and slowly put on his headphones. They both harumphed at him, but were quick to rebound. He turned up his headphones to drown out the noise of their nerdery but watched them converse animatedly anyway. He was content to watch his girl and his best bro bond- even over whatever the fuck this was- for now.   
  
"I bet I can guess your favourite Heisei Rider," Adrien smirked.  
  
Alya crossed her arms. "Oh yeah? I'm going first- Gaim. You're probably magical girl trash and liked Madoka. Same writer, ergo..."  
  
"Close second, but a bit too dark for top spot," he said. She didn't miss that he had avoided the magical girl point. "Kuuga, actually. You, miss journalist, are totally into Double. That entire series is a love letter to detective fiction."  
  
"Damn, am I that easy a mark? Okay, Showa Rider."  
  
"Amazon," Adrien answered without hesitation.  
  
"Seriously?" Alya said with raised brows.  
  
Adrien looked genuinely affronted. "He just wanted friends and that show was such a hilarious mix of over the top gory while trying to appeal to kids! How can you not like it?"  
  
"Down, boy, I think Amazon is great and all but most of the other Showa riders are so much stronger-"  
  
"Heh, I get it. Because of Kamen Rider Stronger." Alya rolled her eyes. "I did like him, but I seriously I can't believe they don't consider Tackle an official rider. I bet it's just because she's a woman, come on she was awesome! Though I'm _really_ glad our own Ladybug superhero doesn't have that helmet."  
  
"I totally agree, girl _needs_ to be canonized as a Rider herself and true that on the helmet. I swear, I'm not talking toku with you again if you make puns though," she said, jabbing a tempura shrimp at him. It was a bluff, she had a mighty need to talk.  
  
"What can I say, I have _pun track mind._ "  
  
She didn't even care how bad his jokes or how weird he was after that, he was the Green Ranger to her Red. He was a bit hurt at first, wanting be the typical main support ranger, Blue, but they both agreed Nino was a Blue to the core.  
  
"Ugh, you nerds, can't you talk about _anything_ else?" Nino took his glasses off to rub his eyes.  
  
The three were walking over to the bakery. Lunch would be over soon and they figured they should check in on Marinette to make sure she wouldn't be late for class. They waved at Sabine through the windows as they went around to the side entrance.  
  
"Come on, Blue, you know you love us," Adrien crushed Nino to himself with a tight side hug. "You give me crap about being a romantic all the time, but you are a total hypocrite. I know that you and Alya are going to last and our bromance is legendary. Sucker. Weeb loving sucker."  
  
Alya raised her brows at Nino over the hypocrite comment, making him hunch up and pull down his cap brim, unsuccessfully hiding a deep blush. She felt pretty warm herself but teased anyway, "Mm-hmm, you chose us, you know. Not our fault you have nerdy taste in people. Just accept it. Watch Kyoryuger with me, it has explosions and giant robot dinosaurs. Come on, you love those things."  
  
"Can't believe I'm stuck with you two," he grumbled. "I'll watch the dinosaurs, though."  
  
Adrien's laugh was cut short when they got in the door. Without explanation, he tore up the stairs. Puzzled, Alya and Nino looked at each other before following. The began to hear it faintly once they reached the second landing: Marinette screaming. Still. And this definitely was not 'I fucked up/am currently fucking up on my schoolwork' screaming. This was existential crisis screaming. By the time they reached the top floor, Adrien was already at the attic trapdoor, having just began to pound at it frantically.  
  
"Marinette?! Mari, are you okay? Please answer!"  
  
"AAAAAA-A-A-ADRIEN!"  
  
"Marinette, I'm coming in!"  
  
He threw the door open and ran up the final stairs to meet Marinette at the top. She started grabbing her head at different places- weird, she hadn't done that over him for a long time now. She even squeaked loudly as Adrien grabbed her by the shoulders and inspected her up and down to make sure she wasn't hurt. Other than looking absolutely frazzled, she seemed fine, thankfully. Alya let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. He kept questioning her, not getting any information but a hell of a lot of stuttering.  
  
Alya completely ascended herself and noted an odd jumble of red yarn, cards, and pins torn down to the floor at her largest wall, as well as a dent above where her phone lay on the floor. Damn, her phone was sturdy. It still looked fine and this would make the sixth time- that she knew of- that it had been thrown across the room. She could guess what it'd show if she turned on the screen: her and Adrien's text chain. Nino came up beside her and followed her eyes.  
  
"Uh," he said.  
  
"Uh," she said. "Even I don't know. This is next level Marinette-ness."  
  
Turning to her, Alya figured normal conversation might be best now. She said gently, as if speaking to a doe about to bolt, "We just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be late for class, you finish your essay?"  
  
"Essay? ESSAY! Yes. Haha. Finished, essay- it, yeah. Essay. Readytohandinletsgo," she picked up her phone and pulled her backpack on hastily and looked desperate to leave, like drug smuggler wanting to leave an interrogation room desperate. Well. It was better than the hot mess she was being just before.  
  
The walk back to school was tense. Alya walked in front with Marinette, her white knuckling the umbrella the entire time. Alya had to give up trying to get answers out of her when she only got clipped, tense responses. With a sigh, she switched to boring conversation in hopes of helping the girl find some chill. She could hear the boys speaking quietly behind them, Nino doing the same for poor, frightened, worried, and confused Green.  
  
All this considered, it was a shock that Marinette stopped Adrien just before they got in the classroom, eyeing Alya and Nino to go ahead. Of course, they still leaned over to eavesdrop and watch out of the corner of their eyes.  
  
"I-I know this is sudden- and weird, and... But I, we, really need to talk. Alone." Marinette said, not meeting Adrien's eyes. "You- whenever's fine for you."  
  
"Today," he said immediately, pulling out his phone.  
  
"Wh-what? No! You- aren't you busy?"  
  
"Uh-uh, not anymore. I'm canceling everything," he said as he texted.  
  
Marinette made a grab for his phone- oh, girl, you and your phone thieving instincts- but Adrien was faster and held it above his head, looking up as he continued typing.  
  
"No, but I'm not- You'll get in trouble!" Marinette jumped up against him, trying to get to the phone in vain.  
  
She was actually going to start climbing him like a disgustingly there-for-you-whenever tree when he said, "Don't care. Too late. Already told Gorilla and Nathalie."  
  
Marinette stopped hopping and slumped in resignation. Realizing she was toe to toe with him from her phone grabbing attempts, she hopped back and huffed, crossing her arms and pouting to the side. "Tall jerk."  
  
Adrien looked at her with a gentle, adoring smile as he stowed his phone again. She still wouldn't look him in the eye, but at least she acted more characteristic and without any word fumbling just now. Between that bit of normality and the way she looked absolutely adorable with her sulking right now, Alya couldn't blame him. He said, "Sorry, not sorry. We should get in though, huh?"  
  
When gently putting a hand on her back to guide her in only made Marinette stiffen up and dig in her heels, he had to start physically pushing her in. It was slow going, he could only inch her forward because of the weight difference. Alya groaned. Whatever weird fuckery was going on, it had better not ruin her- their hard earned progress.  
  
"Hey," Nino said, turning to squeeze her hand. "Don't worry, they'll work it out. Trust me."  
  
Alya sighed and gave him a skeptical look. His reassuring gaze and easy grin didn't waver. Alya couldn't help but crack a little smile and squeezed back. "If you say so."

 

* * *

  
  
Adrien stood by the top of the stairs, consciously breathing deeply to calm himself. He'd been doing that a lot lately, especially this afternoon. He had been wracked with worry. Every glance back showed Marinette had been focusing on her tablet, actually holding up a hand to block him from her view. He looked down to the umbrella in his hands and fiddled with the hooked, cane-like handle.  
  
He had tried to wait in the classroom but she packed her things at the speed of grass growing, and his presence just made her more anxious. Great. They had not only backslid to square one, she was even more nervous around him than before. More than that, where he had simply wanted an easy rapport before, he was pining after her now. Hard. And he knew it.  
  
She finally started coming down the hall and he opened his umbrella, holding it over her as soon as she was near enough. They walked down the stairs and out the school without speaking. It was pouring, and though Adrien usually liked the clean, cool air and whispered roar of heavy rain, now it felt all too sharp to his lungs, numbing cold, oppressively silencing. Reaching the sidewalk outside, he gulped before he dared to speak. "So... What did you want to talk about?"  
  
"I-I," Marinette looked around them. "Let's keep walking a little more. I'm sorry, I just- I guess I'm still not ready to talk just yet. Sorry. I'm the one who asked, and..."  
  
Adrien's heart clenched. Her apologies, her tone, the quietness with which she spoke, he didn't like it. He rubbed at the back of his neck. "It's alright, I sort of forced it, whether or not you were ready. I'm the one who should be sorry."  
  
She looked up at him with a pained expression but didn't say anything. After a few moments, he broke eye contact and swept his free arm ahead to let her know to lead the way.  
  
Burgeoning silence as they walked. He wanted the comfortable silence or playful banter that had become the norm back, but that was up to her. God, he hoped she would let it be again. It had become such a wonderful part of his life. He had appreciated it before, but now it was dawning on him just how viscerally he needed it.  
  
She had been making it easier to get up in the morning. Every part of his day was more- just more. More bright, more colourful, more enjoyable- especially when he was with her. She'd send his heart ablaze and pounding when she so much as looked at him. That beautiful, freckled face and those deep blue eyes, always so expressive, always with some kindly feel, even when she was rolling them at him or acting upset. Still, those were the treasured moments. Just _existing_ with her was enough for him to be happy.  
  
He was terrified of that light going out in his life.  
  
She led him down an old street, paved with stone. Just a little more than wide enough for a car, so they rarely drove down here, and without even foot or bicycle traffic in this rain. He recognized it as a place he'd rush to for the privacy to transform sometimes. The old worn buildings along the sidewalks were charming to look at but, like everything else in sight, they were obscured by the downpour. It made the shelter under their umbrella seem itself like a private space.  
  
He heard Marinette sigh and saw her start worrying at her bottom lip, trying to figure out what to say.  
  
"I'm sorry," she began. Adrien opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, she continued, "And don't say I shouldn't be, and especially not that you're the one who should be sorry, because that's not true. It's not even about, about this- this talk right now. It's about... How I've been taking advantage of your trust, manipulating you, being a hypocrite- I, I've betrayed you, really. You deserve so much more."  
  
"... I don't understand."  
  
She took a deep breath. "The clicking wasn't anything like tinnitus or some weird coincidence."  
  
Adrien stopped in his tracks and Marinette turned to him slightly, head low. He furrowed his brows at her. How... ?  
  
"It shouldn't be like this!" She went on, looking everywhere but his eyes, speaking with wild movements. "You're the best partner I could ask for- better! Then I started developing feelings for you- except I didn't know it was you- and I didn't want to because I have a crazy crush on you, like, everyday you, I had pictures of you all over my walls and you were even my desktop wallpaper, and- and even memorized your schedule and everything. Then we started to become close friends, and it's been so great, I thought I'd actually have a chance with you, like you-you, ohhh, but— that's not fair because with or without- I just didn't realize- I was so focused on the surface crap, but you joking with akuma victims when they're all freaked out and disoriented while I handle the media scrum is _so_ you, and you- oh my god, the whole 'what a _knightmare'_ thing then walking off like a stage exit was _so_ you too, I can't _believe._ "  
  
He was relieved she finally paused to take a deep, gasping breath, but that was his only coherent thought. Mentally, it was all he could do to frantically jot down notes to read over and process after this, whatever this was, ended.  
  
"But-but before all that, I was so conflicted because I couldn't stop thinking about you- both yous- not knowing it was you either way- especially with you and Alya's damn teasing! Oh God, no, I shouldn't yell at you, that's the last thing I should be doing- even though I am yelling, but that's just cause I can't help it- I didn't realize I'd even raised my voice but I'm yelling so loud now, oh my God."  
  
Wait, she was talking about- she kept mentioning duality- things she couldn't know, no.... No freaking way.  
  
"It's so stupid, it's not like you're even being serious with the flirting, you're such a joker in the suit- and it's great, that's great- but somewhere along the line, when I was shooting lines back, I was- _I_ was being serious and I didn't even realize it, but then I did realize it, except then I was hanging out with you during the day too, and I noticed similarities so, so I needed to know, because, because, nnnarrgh! I don't even have an excuse, not really, it's just things kept fitting together and I was like, 'no freaking way,' you know? Anyway, it still wasn't right of me, this isn't right of me, we should know because we agreed, both of us, because we both wanted to and then we should find out at the same time."  
  
Marinette actually paused to breathe for a bit. Adrien's eyes were going wider and wider with shock as everything came together for him.  
  
"Merde. This is such a mess. I'm sorry. I messed up, and if I could take it back, I would. But I can't. So really, it's good you made it happen right away because I'd just keep chickening out. Because that's who I really am, not some brave hero. The more I chickened out, the more scared I'd get and who knows when I would finally tell you," she said, slowing down. She looked up at him through her lashes, raising her head only enough to do so. "I understand if you're mad at me, chaton. You should be."  
  
"Marinette," he breathed, taking a small step closer subconsciously. "My lady?"  
  
She gulped, hesitating, before she fully raised her head to him and nodded a little, slowly. He held out the umbrella for her to take. She stared at his hand holding it for her a while before she took it. He smiled gently as their hands brushed. He squeezed both her shoulders, making eye contact, and said, "Do I look mad?"  
  
"No," she said quietly.  
  
"That's because I'm not- I can't be," he said, shaking his head. Her own began to quiver and her eyes took on that pained look again. "You're mistaken, I was being serious. Every silly line, I was hoping... I was so crazy for Ladybug, I was just scared too. I understand."  
  
"You were? Then- then why did you stop? You haven't been flirting lately, I don't think."  
  
Adrien couldn't help it. He began chuckling.  
  
As he started full on laughing, she looked concerned that maybe he was in a state of temporary insanity. Though to be fair, laughter was still a much better response than screaming and running.  
  
Then, laughing hard, he crouched and picked her up, spinning as he held her tightly around the thighs. She was being held so high, she had to clutch at his shoulders to keep from toppling over. Rain got hit them for a moment before she could balance on one hand and right the umbrella in her other.  
  
"Adrien! What-"  
  
"Because of you! Because I've been crazy for _you,_ Marinette! Whatever it is you're so worried about, it doesn't matter! I don't care, not as long as I can still be with you!" He finally put her down. She was disoriented, his grasp on her arms all that was keeping her upright. He lowered his head to hers until their foreheads touched and their breaths mingled. His big, goofy grin never faltered. He said quietly, reverential, "I knew I would love the girl under the mask too. I just didn't know I'd love her even more."  
  
"How- Why would you-" She breathed a hollow laugh. "Listen to me, I'm such a mess without the mask, I can't even talk. Why would you love me, more than Ladybug, even?"  
  
"Marinette," Adrien said, putting a hand on her cheek. "Remember when we fought Stoneheart at the Eiffel tower? When you were new at being Ladybug and you thought you couldn't be a superhero because you felt like a mess?"  
  
"Yeah. You were there for me. That's the only reason I could pull myself together."  
  
He shook his head against hers. "I helped, but you were the one who brought out this amazing, brave, strong side of you the moment you realized people needed you. That was all you. That is you. Every day, you're whatever people need, and you're so much more. Every new little thing I learn about you just makes me fall for you even deeper."  
  
"Well," Marinette closed her eyes and nestled her cheek against his hand. "I don't know, but... I know I trust you. If you say I'm all that-"  
  
"You are."  
  
"Alright. I- I am."  
  
"Still unsure?"  
  
"... Yeah."  
  
"Then I'll remind you. Every day. Any time you forget it, until you don't need me to anymore. And even then, just to be sure."  
  
She opened her eyes to meet his and, though weak, she finally smiled. The world around them didn't seem quite so dim and grey anymore. Even when she was uncertain, the bright blue of her eyes caught the slightest light. In little more than a whisper, she said, "You know, this reminds me so much of when I fell for you."  
  
"When was that?"  
  
"It was a day like this, you told me how everything was new to you, school, making friends... The look in your eyes then was so raw, and sincere, unbelievably kind. I didn't stand a chance," she chuckled. "Now I find out the sweetest person I've ever met is also the partner who I trust with my life, who makes me laugh and smile through the worst of times. I- I'm so madly in love with this boy who's both it scares me, but I wouldn't trade it for anything."  
  
"Welcome to my world. I've been feeling that way all this time. First Ladybug, then Marinette, now both. You sure know how to drive a guy crazy."  
  
"Sorry, not sorry," she smirked. He chuckled.

Then his eyes flashed with realization and he smirked himself. She knew that smirk. Cautiously, she said, "What?"  
  
"... That's why you were too nervous to talk to me. You had a huge crush on me."  
  
"Y-Yeah..." She smiled bashfully.  
  
"You had my pictures all over your room! You said so," he said, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. She stepped away with a scoff, pushing his head back. He only laughed.  
  
"Shut up," she covered her face with her free hand. Adrien began circling her, bending a little at the waist, hands behind his back. He had a chesire cat smile on his face and if he were Chat Noir right now, his tail would be curled right up in the air.  
  
"You even memorized my schedule," he said in theatrical disbelief. "My word, Marinette!"  
  
"I regret ever saying anything, stupid cat."  
  
"I was your desktop wallpaper, and just what ever else did you do because you were so infatuated with me, hmm?"  
  
"N-Nothing! That's all," she said, shoving him out of the umbrella's shelter. Adrien just laughed as he was momentarily exposed to the rain.  
  
When he stepped back in, he got right in her face. "You know, somehow I'm not convinced. You're a terrible liar, my lady."  
  
"Maybe, but you're even worse at picking up on things," she huffed, crossing her arms. "You still don't know what the clicking was about, do you?"  
  
He frowned. Marinette smirked up at him and it was his turn to huff and cross his arms. He kept silent for a while, thinking. His silence stretched on as he stubbornly kept trying to puzzle it out, but eventually relented and said slowly, "Well... No, I don't. Are you going to tell me?"  
  
"Hmm... I wonder if I should."  
  
"Mariiii," he whined, giving her the most baleful look he could muster. Now he was just so curious.  
  
"Oh, fine. I'll give you a hint: I clicked every time you crouched to jump."  
  
He cocked his head to the side. Then he squinted, "Wait... You conditioned me. You conditioned me like training a pet. To jump. That's what lunch was all about."  
  
He looked at her in disbelief. Her cocky, teasing smirk faded as he did. "I... Yeah, I'm sorry. That's how I knew for sure."  
  
"You're _kitten_ me," he waggled his brows.  
  
Ah, there was that smile, even if she tried to suppress it. "I'm almost not sorry anymore."  
  
"Don't be sorry at all, that's hilarious!" He laughed. Then, admiringly, "You evil genius. Though you know, I've always been yours to command, all you had to do was tell me to jump and I'd have asked how high- or how far, as the case may be."  
  
"Well," she said. "That depends on how far you'll be willing to jump with a crazy, partner conditioning, schedule memorizing, phone stealing cat lady."  
  
"Phone stealing?!" He grinned. She blanched. "That one time I thought I lost it- it was you!"  
  
"I'm going to stop talking now," she groaned, uncrossing her arms as her shoulders drooped.  
  
Adrien threw himself onto her, laughing. The sudden weight made her take a couple of steps back. He was holding her so tight, the laughter from his chest rumbled against hers.  
  
"What are you even laughing about?" She giggled. "And get off, you'll squish me."  
  
"Oh, you've picked me up and thrown me at akuma. Multiple times, I might add."  
  
"It's effective!"  
  
"You'll be fine. I'm laughing because all the crushes have been ridiculous, and we're ridiculous, but now there's a we and I don't know- I just- I'm so happy."  
  
Marinette laughed lightly. "Me too, but you know what else? This is so backwards. We've been in love for so long now, not knowing it, and we barely even knew each other."  
  
"We knew the things no one else did," Adrien pointed out, nuzzling his head against hers. "We knew the important things. That's all that matters."  
  
"Yeah," she said fondly. "But most people get to know that by, I don't know, spending time with each other. You know, not as superheroes having to hide personal details, but as friends, or people dating, where they can both speak normally and have a conversation. If it weren't for the sleepover, I'd have no idea you dance like you're in an eighties hip hop music video- that's what gave you away, by the way-"  
  
"Seriously?!"  
  
"Yeah, that's what got me going fitting the puzzle together. Your stupid moves."  
  
"Hey. Amazing moves. And I wouldn't know [your favourite movie!](https://youtu.be/D1ZYhVpdXbQ)" He said, straightening up. With a big grin, he put one hand out into the downpour and shrugged, then took the umbrella and closed it.  
  
Marinette squeaked and flinched a bit at the sudden exposure to the pouring the rain but smiled, recognizing the scene he was playing out. "Careful, kitty, this Paris dew is just a little bit heavier than usual today."  
  
"Really?" He asked in mock surprise. "From where I stand, the sun is shining all over the place."  
  
"I can't believe you still remember the line. Have you watched it since?"  
  
Adrien just grinned, throwing the umbrella aside. He put one hand on the small of her back, and took her hand with with the other as he began, "Doodle doodoodoo doodle doodoodoodo..."  
  
Marinette laughed in delight and followed his lead, dancing around in a sweeping circle spanning the whole road without a care for the rain or anything in the world. She sang, "I'm singin' in the rain, just singin' in the rain,"  
  
"What a glorious feeling," he picked up, "I'm happy again! My lady, dip me!"  
  
He suddenly turned and leaned back into Marinette's arms. She laughed, "Adrien! I almost dropped you!"  
  
"I'm laughing at clouds, so dark up above," he continued, one arm around her waist, the other hanging out, fully extended. "The sun's in my heart and I'm ready for love."  
  
She let go, mischievously giving him just enough time to catch himself. He tried to look at her indignantly, a difficult task when he couldn't stop grinning like a fool. She turned her wrist at him in a cheeky wave as she strutted down the gutters streaming with rainwater, kicking up splashes. "I walk down the lane, with a happy refrain, just singin', singin' in the rain,"  
  
"Ah-ha, you skipped several lines!" Adrien picked up the umbrella and followed her, playfully kicking around rainwater himself.  
  
She jumped up and down in the water like a little kid as he trotted past her. "What are you, the musical police?"  
  
"Who, me? No, I'm- Just dancin' in the rain," he sang as he did several ballroom turns with the umbrella, "Ah, la, di, lalala,"  
  
Marinette idly hopped on and off the sidewalk edge, arms out for balance, grinning as she watched him do his best to emulate the number.  
  
Adrien bowed to her, doffing an invisible hat, and started pretending to strum his umbrella like an ukelele. His eyes were trained on her as she laughed. He had watched and rewatched the movie scene, practicing alone in his room, knowing how much she loved it.  
  
Though the song and steps played in his head, it was her laughter that gave him the irresistible urge to move his feet and goof off. She was thoroughly soaked with her hair all wet, clothes clinging to her, looking like she hadn't a care in the world. God, was she a beautiful sight. And just ask him what the most beautiful sound in the world was, he'd dare you. Whatever it took to keep her laughing, to put that look of childlike joy and wonder on her face, he would do it.  
  
A loud peal of thunder boomed, making him jump. That just made her laugh harder.  
  
He jumped again, forward and not out of fright this time. Planting both feet down, stretching his arms out to the rain, he took the clean, cool air gratefully into his lungs, "I'm happy again!"  
  
He couldn't take his eyes off her even as he began to try and replicate the skillfully choreographed tap dancing with his own untrained, unsure feet. So focused on her, he tripped on something, but Marinette rushed to catch him. They ended up with her holding him as if in a dancer's dip again.  
  
"Looks like _Eiffel_ for you again."  
  
"Terrible."  
  
"You're smiling, though! Guess I'll have to work on my tap dancing, but Singin' always makes you happy, right? I'll get it down pat one of these days, I promise."  
  
She seemed taken aback, then leaned so close to him their noses were touching with a gentle smile on her face. "Silly kitty. _You_ make me happy. You don't have to do anything special."  
  
He smiled back, taking in her words and the way she held him. He felt so close to her in this moment, more than physically, and- and that look in her eyes. A look he knew so well because it was the way he had looked at Ladybug for so long, at Marinette these past few weeks. His breath was shallow out of fear of disturbing this moment, of changing that look; like he was her world. The song still played in his head but the joyous orchestral swell he felt in his heart, reverberating all through his chest with a cozy heat.  
  
There he was in some ancient, forgotten sidestreet, soaked thoroughly by the cool rain still pattering his skin, but he inside he felt like a roaring log fire and a radio softly playing cheery brass band classics. She could just make anywhere feel like home, couldn't she?  
  
Then he heard it.  
  
He groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Confused, she helped him stand upright. Adrien jumped and shouted at the sky, arms swinging with fury. "Seriously?! Right now?"  
  
"WE WERE HAVING," he gestured back and forth between himself and Marinette, "A MOMENT."  
  
She picked up the sound of chaos a moment later, probably the sadly now familiar sound of a thrown car landing, and laughed.  
  
"Minou, I don't think the akuma would care even they knew," she took his hand and pulled him into an alley where not even any apartment windows faced. "Tikki!"  
  
The red creature flew out of her side bag, giggling.  
  
Adrien huffed but still smirked. "Plagg!"  
  
The black cat swooped out from his shirt, screaming, "FINALLY!"  
  
Adrien could tell he meant there were several things he was glad to be done with, but there was no time to elaborate.  
  
In unison, the two heroes cried, "Transform me!"  
  
There was a wash of light, intermingled red and green, before Paris' super-powered protectors were airborne. Ladybug looked over to her partner, him still clutching the umbrella in one hand. A memento. He thought he'd start keeping them and that was certainly one moment he'd want to keep for a long time.  
  
"You know, Chat, it's funny!" She called to him over the rain.  
  
"What is, my lady?"  
  
"I never thought you could fall in love with the same person more than once."  
  
"Oh, I'm sure that's one thought we'll both revisit a lot," he said as he looked over to meet her eyes with a wink.  
  
They reached the disaster zone the akuma had created. They landed and looked around to find any civilians had already evacuated. Their opponent was vague, and not because of the obscuring rain. It's form was vast, swirling with things uncertain- if there was one word to describe this thing, it was 'uncertain.' They couldn't even guess at what it could (would) do to them or how to tackle it right now.  
  
The two shared a glance. Yep, this was absolutely terrifying.  
  
And they grinned. Bring it on.  
  
Together, they could take on anything.


	8. The Downlow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien are thrilled about finally being together and knowing each other's secret identities. It's just that it was all a little sudden. Thinking it best to slow down a little, Marinette plans to keep things hush-hush while they figure things out.
> 
> Plans don't always work out so well.

Uncertainty Principal had easily been the most difficult akuma to fight so far. Just when you thought you knew where they were, they would have been long gone by the time you got there. Or you'd move to intercept them to find they were actually still far enough away that they would change course and avoid you. They kept their distance and kept you from closing in with surrounding objects whirling around them like blunt force trauma charged electrons.  
  
Thank kwami for magical suits or Ladybug and Chat Noir's civilian selves would be black and blue all over. Or dead. Sadly, they couldn't do much to help with the exhaustion and soreness.  
  
As Adrien... Chat? Oh, right. _That Guy_ had put it, the akuma was _particle-larly_ tough. Physics had plummeted to the bottom of Marinette's school subject likeability rankings and That Guy had been banned from talking quantum mechanics or making physics puns in general for a week.  
  
The akuma victim was a physics teacher who had to take up school admin duties on top of it all thanks to her lycée being understaffed; not that the principal listened to her suggestions. She wished she had the position herself- then she could effectively do something about securing the students' needs after recent budget cuts. An excellent educator, just pushed too far, and apparently a master of wordplay, as evidenced by That Guy's pun filled post-battle conversation with her. Marinette thought he had gotten it out of his system after that.  
  
But no, her partner still disobeyed the ban within an hour, so he was That Guy now.  
  
Now her phone was buzzing loudly against the hard top of her desk down where it charged. She groaned and considered picking it up just to change " **Adrien <3**" to " **That Guy >:(**" in her contacts. That meant getting up and going downstairs, though. Laziness trumped petty anger and she cocooned herself in her blanket.  
  
Despite still feeling wiped out from the akuma fight and the homework she still had to do after it, the more than dozen texts and second call currently ringing made concern mount, and Marinette finally did answer the phone. She swiped to answer, saying in a sleep hoarse voice before he could even say hello, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"  
  
"Marinette! Thank God. I-I don't know if you ever said, or if I forget- I'm really sorry if it's that I've forgotten- Do you like the coffee from Café des Deux Moulins or Terres de Café better? I know you like them both, but which do you prefer?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Mari?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Bugaboo?"  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"Oh no. You have said before, haven't you?"  
  
She sighed.  
  
"No, I don't think I ever have. Deux Moulins, but it's so far away. I'd just go to Terres. Why do- Wait, did you call me at seven in the morning just to ask me about cafés?"  
  
"Yup!" He sounded way too chipper for _seven in the goddamn morning._ "I'll go get coffee, seeya soon."  
  
"What? No, you don't ha-" He hung up.  
  
"-ve to... I can't believe him," she rubbed her face roughly. She was grateful Tikki was still asleep because she could not take the kwami's giggling right now. How was one person the embodiment of both heart achingly sweet and kill me now annoying at the same time? Sighing, she went to her small bathroom to shower before he got here. She was up anyway, may as well be washed up when she saw her... Boyfriend?  
  
Her heart skipped a beat as she thought it. Adrien- Wait, That Guy, she was still mad at him, damn it... He was actually, finally... Something with her. They would have to discuss what, exactly. Whatever they'd call it, she didn't care, to be honest. She felt light just knowing there was something there.  
  
As she undressed, she recalled yesterday's events. A stupid grin stretched on her face just remembering. She still couldn't believe that incredible goof had learned the song and dance to Singin' In The Rain just for her. He really was crazy for her too. Marinette sighed and felt like swooning right then and there. Instead, she grabbed her toothpaste and toothbrush and stepped into her shower. She could swoon and brush her teeth in there. _Multi-tasking._  
  
As the hot water eased her sore muscles, she let out a long groan of contentment. After the fight yesterday, the two of them were even more sore and caught in a much colder shower. When they ducked into a factory attic they knew would be warm from the machinery below, they were too tired for words. Which was fine- they didn't feel any need for words. As the transformations wore off and their kwami ate, they huddled together, enjoying the feeling of nuzzling into each other. Maybe Tikki had a point about Ladybug and Chat Noir being two halves of a whole.  
  
She stepped out and toweled off. Eventually, they were both dried off and had to admit they should get home. Schoolwork, not being out too late, reality, all that jazz. Still, they took their time going home, leaning against one another under the umbrella. Adrien had walked her home first. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and shuffled into the bakery swiftly, not believing she had done that even as he stood dumbstruck. Maman had not helped with the eye wrinkling grin on her face. At least she didn't say anything.  
  
Marinette was only a few steps out of her very much beside the trapdoor bathroom when she heard a familiar 'doodle doodoodoo, doodledoodoodoodoo,' and froze. She wasted her critical second trying to think if she remembered to lock it. Then it opened and it became clear that no. _No, she did not lock it._ She emitted a small, strangled shriek and held her wrapped towel around herself closer.  
  
That Guy turned his head to her and his eyes went owlishly wide. Both of their operating systems crashed. For what felt like an eternity, they stared at each other.  
  
When his system rebooted, both were thoroughly red and he backtracked with a "SORR- AUGH," as he let the trapdoor drop so quickly it thumped on his head. There was another yelled sorry, muffled through the trapdoor, a quieter stammered explanation, then her maman laughing loudly downstairs. In a robotic state of mortification, she locked the trapdoor and got dressed. Then she sat on her chaise and put her burning face in her hands. This yet to be named thing they had going was starting off swimmingly.  
  
This time Tikki was awake to giggle. Marinette groaned, "Shut up."

 

* * *

 

Downstairs, Adrien was in a similiar position on his kitchen stool, leaning on the counter, and blushing just as intensely. Nice move, dumbass. Great way to kick off the relationship. The only difference in his position was that one hand was not over his face so he could eat his half of the breakfast Sabine had prepared after he called and asked if it would be okay to come over.  
  
He stayed looking intently at his plate and partially holding his face as he heard Marinette come in and sit down across from him to eat her own breakfast. He decided the safest course of action was to continue eating his feelings. She began eating and sipping her coffee.  
  
As much as he hated silent meals, Adrien was way too embarrassed to say anything. He felt himself ease up the moment she finally spoke.  
  
"S-So, uh..." Marinette began, "Thanks for the, the coffee. You really didn't have to. It tastes great! Ju- Just how I like it."  
  
Adrien smiled to himself and joked, "Cream and sugar, with some coffee."  
  
"Well, excuse me Mr. Nearly Black- just a bit of cream, no sugar," she said, a smile in her own voice. It gave him the courage to look up. They met each other's eyes. They were alright. A bit awkward, but alright.  
  
"You noticed," he said.  
  
"Of course."  
  
" _Bean_ paying attention, eh?"  
  
She rolled her eyes but smiled.  
  
"Sorry, have I _ground_ on your nerves?"  
  
"It's way too early for your puns."  
  
"They're _espresso-ns_ of endearment!"  
  
"You're lucky you're cute."  
  
He sipped his coffee, feeling warmed even before he swallowed it.  
  
"I'm lucky, alright."  
  
She had a few more bites before she said, "It's nice to eat with you here again. Brings back nice memories."  
  
"Yeah," he looked around. "Oh, that reminds me, I get to eat as much as I want now, you know? Thanks to your mom. I don't know what she said, but when père let me know about it, he actually looked impressed and complimented her. He's only ever done that one other time, when Nathalie got fed up with him over how he was treating the staff, ever since  maman..."  
  
He trailed off, not really wanting to broach that subject just now. She paused but didn't push.  
  
"I'm glad to hear you get to have more freedom with what you eat," she said. Huh. He guessed it was that. A little bit more freedom. "Looks like you needed it, since, you've been... Uhh, well, you've been looking... Healthier."  
  
He couldn't help but lean his head on a fist and give her a toothy smirk. "Oh? Have I?"  
  
She gulped and went red, saying, "Oh my God, don't do that."  
  
"Do what?" He purred.  
  
"Don't do that either! Doing alter-ego things when you're- Oh God, that should be illegal." She covered her eyes against him. "I'm not used to it when you're like this and you're going to kill me."  
  
"I can't help it," he chuckled. "Especially not when you basically confess you've been checking me out."  
  
"That suit doesn't leave a lot to the imagination," she muttered.  
  
"Right," he coughed as his smirk fell. He could counter with a comment about hers but, well, after how he'd embarrassed himself just earlier he didn't really want to even think about it. "In any case, you're right. The tailors and seamstresses have been giving me grief about it when they make alterations. They were salty enough about having to keep up with my growth spurt, now they have adjust to horizontal changes too."  
  
She chewed thoughtfully. "Yeah, I'd think of you as a bit of a pain in the ass too, That Guy. In fact I already do."  
  
"'That Guy,' still? Come on, I got you coffee and everything," he pouted.  
  
"Still. The coffee goes a long way towards having name privileges again but not quite there yet," she said. "Come to think of it, your dad seems to prefer thin models. Are you going to be fine, like professionally?"  
  
"Sure. I've built up personal brand by now and guys like David Gandy have made it okay for medium frame male models anyway. Besides," Adrien sighed. "If père stopped caring about me modeling, I'd give it up in a heartbeat."  
  
"Right, you mentioned before you don't like it."  
  
"Well, it's more like I don't mind it, but I only really do it for him."  
  
Marinette looked at him sympathetically.  
  
It occurred to him he had only admitted that much to Nino before. He had gotten furious with his father, saying it wasn't right. That had meant a lot to Adrien. His best friend probably didn't even realize it, but that had caused a paradigm shift in him. It made him realize how he was being treated really wasn't normal. More than that, he knew he had someone firmly in his corner against it. Hearing Nino rail against Adrien's father in a way he never could himself was a comfort in itself. The way Marinette reached over to squeeze his hand silently was a different sort of comfort that mattered just as much. He squeezed back in thanks.  
  
"Well, if you have to keep modeling, I really wouldn't mind you doing some ads like Gandy's." The devious glint in her eyes and smirk told him she didn't mean the three piece suit ones. Now he felt like his hand was burning in hers.  
  
Adrien tried for witty repartee but any witticisms he could come up with were just making a multiple car pileup in his throat. He could practically see the mask on her face right now.

"What's the matter, hmm?" She said, voice teasing. "Cat got your tongue?"

"Ah, you- ahaha... I see what you mean about the alter-ego thing now."  
  
"It's going to take some getting used to for both of us, isn't it?" She said, mercifully taking on a gentler expression before she gave his hand a final squeeze and took their now empty dishes to the sink.  
  
"Us..." He mused, goofy grin bubbling up just over the word.  
  
"Us," she said in the same tone. After a beat, "What are we, anyway? I mean, we both know we're in deep for each other-"  
  
"-to put it mildly, my lady."  
  
"- but this is all moving a little fast. Maybe... Maybe we should get to know each other a bit better before we make things official. Keep it on the downlow at school for now, you know?"  
  
"Hmm," he considered. He was perfectly happy to start marriage plans right now. Which, he supposed, begrudgingly, may be, in a way, an indicator that he was thinking about things just a little bit too far already. "If you think that's for the best."  
  
She gave him an apologetic smile as she finished washing and dried her hands off. Adrien got up to face her and took her hands. "Hey. Seriously, whatever's most comfortable with you is fine by me."  
  
He raised one of her hands to kiss the back of it and saw her blush slightly as she breathily laughed and laid her forehead on his chest. "Thanks, minou."  
  
"Minou?" He smiled. "Not 'That Guy' anymore?"  
  
"You make it really hard to stay mad at you."  
  
They broke apart quickly as footsteps sounded on the stairs. Tom appeared in the doorway, grinning and holding out a small, rectangular box. "Better get to school, kiddos. Macarons to go with that coffee?"

 

* * *

  

Marinette did not fail to note that the macarons were all heart shaped. Or that her papa's timing probably meant he had been eavesdropping on at least a little of their conversation. At least they had to take turns holding the box because they both had one hand full with ridiculously large, but absolutely necessary, takeout cups of coffee. It meant she didn't have to do much to suppress the urge to hold Adrien and not let go even if it meant crabwalking to school. She won't lie, she totally would, it's only like a block anyway.  
  
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The air always seemed so much clearer after the rain.  
  
It was a beautiful day. The sounds of Parisians beginning their day filled the air, the sun was shining, Juleka was huddled up against Rose, who was making her a flower crown, and a laughing Kim ran out of the school courtyard, only to take a flying kick right in the ass from Alix so he fell down the stairs. A beautiful, typical morning. It just somehow felt much nicer.  
  
They went up to Nino and Alya, sitting on the wide banister of the school steps. The couple both raised brows at them, but before they could say anything, Adrien spoke up. "Dude, Red, that was practically a perfect Rider Kick from Alix just now."  
  
"Oh shit, Green, you're right. You think Kim's gonna explode like a kaijin now?"  
  
They both watched for a while as if he really would explode into a fiery ball of special effects and made disappointed noises when he didn't. In Marinette's opinion, the ground scuffle he and Alix began was a pretty good compensation.  
  
Nino sighed like his spirit was trying to escape his body.  
  
"Did I miss something?" Marinette asked.  
  
"Bro, please, _please_  never leave me alone with these two for lunch again. They geeked out the whole time about this stuff. What even is a kaijin? The hell is a Rider Kick? I don't know! That shit's why I couldn't even try to follow along. And now we're apparently some colour coded superhero team called rangers. Alya's red, Adrien's green, and I'm blue. I don't know if they even decided which you are cause they tried to figure it out for like twenty minutes, getting saltier at whatever company with each agonizingly slow second."  
  
"Pink," Adrien and Alya said in unison. They high fived over their ranger synchronicity. Alya continued, "You're way better than they're typically depicted, though."  
  
Adrien began grousing about how tohqueger(?) pink had potential but blah blah blah...  
  
Marinette sighed as she sat beside Nino and rubbed his back sympathetically. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"You can make up for it by telling me what's up with you and my boy coming to school together," he bumped shoulders with her. "Standing closer than 'close friends' close, too. Don't deny it."  
  
"W-Well, he knew I was going to be really tired this morning, so he came to the bakery... You know, he wanted breakfast from us anyway, so he brought me coffee, on the way, you know? Just like him, isn't it?" She said with a tight smile. It was mostly true. Nino looked unconvinced and slightly disappointed in her. She hated when Nino did 'disappointed in you.' It was the worst.  
  
God, and she wanted to scream it from the rooftops too, her and Adrien. Together. But she really thought they needed to take it slow and Adrien sure as hell was, for once, not to be counted on. Then again, If anyone deserved to know, it was Nino and Alya. She sighed. "Alright, so we're now... something."  
  
Nino stared blankly at her for a moment. Then a smirk became a smile became a grin became a squeal became loud, delighted screaming as he crushed her against him in a side hug while punching her near shoulder with his other hand.  
  
Alya and Adrien looked over in alarm. Nino's ridiculously happy look must have tipped them off. Alya started looking between her and Adrien. Nino, still screaming, nodded. Alya looked at Adrien, who bit his lip to unsuccessfully suppress an excited grin, and the two began hopping up and down in joy, squealing. Adrien was actually squealing as high as Alya was. Marinette groaned and went slack, swaying limply along with Nino's excited shaking. She stared at the sky blankly with mouth agape. Everyone was staring. She could maybe still fix this, though, having kept her cool.  
  
"Th-They're just excited for me!" She called out. Again, not really a lie. "Because I-I- wonnn... tickets and airfare to Eurovision?"  
  
Some just nodded and went back to what they were doing. The others looked surprised and Kim, ruffled and dirty from the wrestle he and Alix had been in before he broke out to run up to her, asked, "They usually give you a plus one, right? Who are you going to take?"  
  
Every interested face, which were many, looked over. Want and competitive spirit to rival even Kim's blazed in their eyes. _Shit._

 

* * *

  

With everyone courting her over a non-existent Eurovision attendance, Marinette was actually glad to be in classes. Even with Alya's elbowing, which was so persistent that she was pretty sure her entire left side was lightly bruised. At lunch, she and Nino demanded every little detail. She and Adrien told them what they could. They had stumbled once in a while to keep out superhero details, but she mostly relayed information with dreamy sighs and loving glances at him. At the end, her cheeks hurt from smiling, and she still couldn't stop.  
  
"Wait, so why were you so freaked out anyway?" Alya quirked a brow afterwards. "I can let a lot of your cagey deflecting slide, girl- don't think I noticed you leaving things out there- but whatever. I get it. Some things even your best friend can't know. Yet. You'll tell me when you're ready but you're telling me some day."  
  
"Down, champ," Nino rubbed her shoulders. "We're here to celebrate the union of Mari and Adrien, remember?"  
  
"Nino! Don't make it sound like we're getting married," Marinette blushed slightly. Adrien turned to her with a grin, brow quirked, _'Wanna?'_ She pushed the side of his head to make him face forward again. "No."  
  
"Whatever, you two are practically married already," Alya waved a hand flippantly. Adrien's eyebrow waggling was reaching dangerous levels. "But don't dodge my question, that was untold levels of Marinette meltdown. What in the hell was that? It wasn't the essay, that's for sure."  
  
Marinette knew she didn't have long to formulate a response without drawing suspicion. "W-Well it's just I, uh- I kinda realized... That Adrien might like me back?"  
  
Alya and Nino gave a collective _'ohhhh,'_ as if nothing else could make more sense. Come on, the excuse didn't have to go over _that_ well... Did it? No, of course it would. Adrien giggled beside her. Even as Marinette had a mind to push his face right into a wall, she felt all warm and giddy inside when he rubbed his head against her shoulder affectionately. Ah, damn. Missiles disarmed. She just huffed and headbutted him back.  
  
After lunch, Alya's elbowing only intensified. Despite her entire left side now being undoubtedly heavily bruised, she couldn't mind much. Her and Nino's happiness for them was infectious and she was deliriously happy (alternating with murderously annoyed) in the first place over being with Adrien. Even if she was keeping it secret. Or had tried to. To be fair, she had at least made it until last period.  
  
The two hadn't even realized it until after class. Mrs. Bustier was not her usual chipper self today and, after going through what coursework was necessary, she let the class have 'free study' time. She knew the students would take that as 'do anything but study with friends' time and they knew she knew but didn't care. Nobody thought anything of Adrien and Nino scooting their bench back to sit turned around and rest their arms on the Marinette and Alya's desk for a chat. That was standard by now. But, one by one, they quietly took note, elbowing their friends and pointing it out in hushed tones.  
  
By the time the bell rang, everyone in the class had noticed. Chloe had left class immediately, just after Mrs. Bustier herself, and Sabrina had trailed her, of course. Oddly, no one else had left. Glances went between each other in the crowd but both couples in what what the class had dubbed The Love Square were too into each other to notice. (Chloe single-handedly made up The Bermuda Triangle.)  
  
Completely subconsciously, some time during 'free study' time, Marinette had reached a hand towards Adrien's and his had naturally moved towards hers. Without realizing it, they had spent most of 'free study' time with her hand on top of his. On top of the table. In full view.  
  
Being at the bottom of the stepped class meant they practically had an audience in the bleachers.  
  
Marinette had been rubbing Adrien's fingers with a thumb, idly tracing the edges of his ring with her index finger. Sometimes, she fiddled with it enough to make it turn or move up or down a bit. More than a few of the others in the class knew from experience he was inseparable from it, avoidant about others so much as asking to see it, much less touch it. They let the ones who didn't know about it quietly now. Regardless, he just looked more at ease than he ever had before.  
  
Finally, Rose couldn't hold it in. She squealed out so loudly and excitedly that the two couples in front jumped. "Are you two dating yet?!"  
  
Marinette and Adrien stared at her. She was practically vibrating with anticipation and had a smile that said she was still squealing, just internally. Marinette actually wondered if she could reach a vibrational frequency that would make her phase through solid objects. Uncomfortably, she noticed the rest waiting for an answer. Their best friends were no help, whistling, literally whistling- who actually took that to be less suspicious- and looking out to the hall.  
  
She shrunk back, trying to think of how to get out of it this time.  
  
Adrien answered for her, "It's... complicated."  
  
A collective groan went up. Completely outraged, Alix shouted, "There was no 'it's complicated' category! Now how are our bets going to be counted?"  
  
"What?" Marinette said. Then realization struck and slowly she turned to her side. "Alya..."  
  
"We started a pool," she shrugged. "I was going crazy waiting and trying to make you two happen, girl, I had to do _something_ to keep occupied."  
  
"Since when were you a bookie?!"  
  
"I don't know, since when were you a phone burglar?"  
  
Marinette looked at her sternly while shoving a snickering Adrien in the nose. "We don't talk about that."  
  
"Uh-huh, well now I gotta talk to everyone who placed bets to work this out cause y'all couldn't just make out and start being disgustingly cute already," Alya said, as if she had been grievously wronged. She went off to consult with her clientèle in a huff.  
  
"Dude, did you ever steal _my_ phone?" Nino asked, worried.  
  
"No!"  
  
"Oh," he said, disappointed.  
  
"Wh- I didn't do it for fun, only if I had a really good reason to, okay! It's not like I didn't steal your phone because I don't like you."  
  
"Oh!" He brightened up.  
  
Adrien watched with amusement. "So, you're not over there. You didn't place a bet?"  
  
"Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. Ye of little faith," Nino crossed his arms and shook his head slowly. "How could I ever cheapen my hopes for the happiness and love of my two bros by putting money on it?"  
  
They looked at him in fond appreciation.  
  
"Only 'cause I didn't let him! He was too close to the situation, I couldn't bet either," Alya called over.  
  
They looked at him blankly, unimpressed.  
  
Nino chuckled uncomfortably, caught. He gave the two finger-guns. "Worth a shot, right?"  
  
Alya came over, hand on a hip. "Okay so you two might not be officially dating, but you professed your undying love for each other yesterday, right?"  
  
"Alya!" Marinette squeaked and looked nervously at all the eyes on her. Adrien turned his hand palm side up under hers to squeeze it, but it drew the collective laser focused gaze of everyone else in class. Both of them drew their hands back at the speed of light. She stammered, "I-I, he- I don't think either of us actually said 'love,' particularly."  
  
"... I can't remember, either. I'm sure I'd remember if we said 'I love you,' and I'm pretty sure neither of us said undying, or forever, anything like that."  
  
Alya sighed, patient but strained smile on her face as she shook her head. "Semantics. It's _basically_ what you guys expressed to each other, right?"  
  
Marinette looked over and met eyes with her... her partner. His brows were furrowed too, but whatever other name they were unsure of, they'd always be partners. Always. She quirked a smile at him, expression smoothing out. She hadn't ever even thought of it but... Yeah, she had always loved him some way the whole time they were partners, all confusion aside. If she could hold anything to be true, it was that. They'd always love each other even if there weren't words for it.  
  
She mused that at this very moment, there had to be tons of people all over the world saying or thinking they were the luckiest person alive; maybe because of marriage or proposal or finally getting together like them. Whatever the case, every one of them were dead wrong. Because they weren't her. They didn't have him. They weren't the one who would always would have him.  
  
"Okay, _anyone_ look at those two right now and say that's not the closest thing they've seen to two nerds in eternal love outside of a romcom," Alya dared the others.  
  
Marinette and Adrien quickly broke eye contact, chuckling nervously and looking the other way. She glanced over to see her poor partner ruffling the back of his neck hard, as flushed red as she was.  
  
"Y'all, I don't know about you, but they were going to make me either cry over my restored faith in the goodness of humanity, or hurl," Alya continued. "And even if it was 'hurl,' I would have hurled rainbows and sunshine."  
  
Some sighs and grumbles went through the crowd, but apparently the collective agreement was that whatever they saw in that look was satisfactory for being a substitute to the 'official couple' category. Euros exchanged hands.  
  
Mylène was quick to come over and give Adrien a hug, Ivan with her to shake hands with both of his, gently rumbling with a smile, "I'm glad, I know you'll take good care of her."  
  
Rose caught Marinette in a tackling hug, far less gentle than Mylène's. She spoke far less articulately or reasonably paced as Ivan too. "OhmigoshimsohappyforyoubothofyouthetwoofyouareperfectforeachotherandijustknowyouregoingtomakeeachothersohappythisistrueloveiknowitandifeelSOluckytoseeitmyselfandnopressurebutireallyreallywanttoseehoweverythingturnsoutbecauseyoutwoaresocuteeeeeeeee!"  
  
Juleka nodded, "Nice."  
  
As Adrien took Nathanael aside to speak to him privately, looking worried about the artist known to recently have been crushing on her, Marinette was approached by a cheery Kim. She smiled back at him.  
  
"Hey bro-inette," he said and hitched a thumb back to point at Adrien. "I don't need to give him the 'be good or I'll kick your shit' talk, do I?"  
  
Marinette laughed. "No, that's okay."  
  
"Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm super happy for you. It's about time!" He punched her lightly in the shoulder. Then his eyes widened momentarily in realization before looking disappointed. "Aw man, I bet that means you're taking him to Eurovision with you though, right?"  
  
"Oh, Kim..." Marinette put a hand on his arm. "There are no tickets, I was just covering up."  
  
He looked heartbroken. Alix started cackling somewhere further back in the classroom and he launched himself over a desk towards her, yelling, "Shut up, Kubdel!"  
  
Well, at least it looked like he was over it.  
  
The class settled down, sitting on benches and desks in a disorganized circle. They voiced their well wishes and congratulations, before starting in on the teasing and joking then general conversation; an impromptu celebration. There was a lull in the class conversation, after everyone stopped laughing and expressing disbelief over a leaked story of a staff party. Turned out the teachers were extremely rowdy partiers. Adrien startled, slapping his forehead and dragging his hand down his face, he said, "Oh no, I've been keeping my driver waiting and I have to get to a private lesson. I'm so sorry, everyone, trust me I'd rather stay with you all."  
  
"Understood," Max piped up. "I must say, the way your time is monopolized by engagements with lack of peer socialization is unhealthy for those our age."  
  
Adrien shot him a wry little look. "Tell me about it. Anyway, thanks everyone. This has been great, and I... I really appreciate how nice everyone's been to me."  
  
The rest of the class gave a look of slight puzzlement. Mylène was the one to say what everyone was thinking. "Of course, Adrien! You're always nice to us."  
  
As soon as he stood up, bag on his shoulder, shy smile on all the while, Nino held him fiercely like he was protecting him from bodily harm. "Look at this good boy, everyone. So beautiful. So pure. Of course everyone thinks you're sweet, bro. Don't you ever forget or I'll cry while I beat your stupid ass down."  
  
Alya made it a group hug. She muttered affectionately, "Adrien appreciation/beatdown squad twenty-sixteen."  
  
"I don't know whether I'm more touched or frightened," he smiled nervously, after others announced they were in. He mouthed to Marinette, _'Help me.'_  
  
"Okay, okay, stop scaring him," she swatted away her well meaning but intense friends. They practically hissed at her.  
  
Pulling on her own bag, she took Adrien by the arm and led him out as he exhaled and whispered thanks. The others hooted and whistled as she saw him out. She turned and stuck her tongue out at them at the door, just making them laugh.  
  
She slid her hand down to his as they walked to the school exit. "We'll have to organize a class party when you have the time."  
  
"Yeah! That would be the best," he beamed. Then, looking humbled, he said, "Oh, by the way, Nathanael is cool with it. He even said he doesn't want us to feel like we have to watch ourselves. Maybe he was just trying to make me feel better, but he said he thought it'd help him get over you if he saw you happy, even it's by being with me. He- He's a pretty amazing guy."  
  
"Yeah, he is... Poor Nath. It's not his fault he wasn't cosmically destined or something to be with me."  
  
Adrien chuckled. "You know, I have to say I, for one, am glad, but I'm sorry your plan didn't go so well. Not even one day and already, _the cat's out of the bag."_  
  
"That's it, you're back to being 'That Guy.'"  
  
"Awww, noooo, anything but that," he whined as they reached the car. Gorilla looked over, though he didn't look annoyed. Then again, he never looked anything.  
  
"Oh fine, you big baby," she made him face her and smiled up at him. "What do you say to 'boyfriend?'"  
  
He stared for a moment. "I say 'I do.'"  
  
Marinette laughed, though pink dusted her cheeks. "Down, kitty. We're not quite there yet."  
  
"Not quite? Ah, but I don't know how long my heart can hold out," he sighed from the very depths of his soul. Then with a lopsided grin, "Just for my lady, however, I'll hold out as long as it takes."  
  
She looked at him, perfectly blended Adrien and Chat Noir in the moment. Happy. Corny as that had been, she couldn't seem to make a comeback, or roll her eyes, or even call him a dork. So she just hugged him, and felt him take her into her arms. They held one another as long as they thought they could get away with, then, as they were parting, Marinette turned her head up to kiss him just under the jaw. Though it made her flush, herself, she giggled at his distant smile and slack posture, frozen in place.  
  
"You make me the luckiest girlfriend in the world, Adrien," she muttered in his ear as she brushed a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned his head into her touch. "You should get going, though."  
  
"Going... ? Oh. Yeah. I should," he said dreamily with eyes still half lidded. She had to help him into the car. "The car. In there. Right."  
  
Marinette watched him go, her hand still buzzing with the sensation of combing through his hair, conscious of her lips tingling with the memory of the warmth and softness of his skin. She hoped Adrien would be able to get through his lessons somehow because all she could do the rest of the day was roll around in her bed, squealing into her pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Casually low-key ships HeartRate and JuleRose.]
> 
> I had the impression that Marinette had a small bathroom to her vanity/sink's left but looking at references again proves this inaccurate. I have no idea why I thought that now??? For the sake of this fic, I'm going to pretend it's a thing for continuity though since I already used it in the sleepover, and it let me write the awkward scene in this chapter. I owe it for that now. Bless awkward scenes.
> 
> I went into this fic planning to do more friends-to-lovers after the reveal, but apparently I don't have the chill for that. Worked out about as well as Mari's plan. Oh, well. Maybe in another story. _(:’3 」∠)_


	9. Don't Stop Bee-lieving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien asks something of Marinette that may be the biggest test of her dedication to helping a person in need yet.

Alya had changed his contact name, Marinette saw. A bookie _and_  a phone thief after all. Hypocrite. Then again, the change was a keeper.

 **Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**  
Can I come see you? I want to talk...

Marinette looked at the clock. Only 9PM. Her parents were already asleep. Baker's hours, one reason she would not be taking over the family business- and there was a floor between her room and theirs anyway. Even he came over just to start screaming and breakdancing on her floor, they should be fine. Though in the back of her mind, she entertained the possibility that her parents had a supernatural ability to know when to butt in even in sleep.

 **Marinette**  
Of course!

Was the exclamation mark too much? Oh God, she had already sent it, what if she was embarrassing herself?

... Wait, she was his girlfriend now, she was allowed to be an excitable mess over him.

 **Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**  
Great! See you soon!  <3

 **Marinette**  
<3

Okay, he used _two_  exclamation marks and initiated heart emoji exchange, she was cool. Cool cool cool.

She was in bed, a little calmed down from the squealing and rolling phase by doing homework, even if it had taken twice as long from all her spacing out. She was in the reminiscing and sighing dreamily phase when Chat Noir looked down at her from her skylight, trademark smirk on his face as he waggled his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes at him even as she smiled. Marinette unlatched her skylight trapdoor and raised it enough so he could take over opening it before getting out of bed to make room for him.

Landing and sitting on all fours, he said "Prrrincess. Nice of you to let me _drop in._ "

"Still with the Princess? I don't need a knight in shining armour and you know it now," she shifted her weight to one side, smirking back with her hands on her hips.

He took a moment to take a big breath, exhaling loudly. "Still and forever, ma belle. I can't help it! Need it or not, I _want_ to be your knight- so long as you'll let me."

"Ah, but wouldn't you be my prince now?"

"No, thank you. I'd had my fill of being cooped up in a dreary castle," he said as he let his transformation go. Plagg swiftly made a gagging face at them both and flew off in search of Tikki. Adrien chuckled after him then turned and gave her a wink. Not his pure, affable, reassuring wink. A Chat Noir wink. "Marinette, you're fit to rule on your own. I'm merely yours to command."

This boy was going to kill her. Marinette laughed airily to shake off her nerves- she was not going to let herself stutter. "Alright, that was pretty smooth."

He grinned and his eyes brightened over being all too pleased by her approval. That took care of any lingering nerves. The adorable dweeb.

"Glad you think so," he muttered before leaning forward to kiss her on the soft area under her jaw. She felt herself move into it. As her knees went weak, she put her arms around him and relaxed into him. He nuzzled his nose into the crook between her neck and shoulder, wrapping his arms around her in turn. Now she knew why he had gone absolutely goofy after she had kissed him the same way after school.

"So, you- you said you wanted to talk?"

"Stay like this first? For just a while?"

As she made to climb into bed again, Adrien shifted back to stretch his legs out and lean against the wall. She sat in his lap, her only thought to be closer to him. He pulled in close and laid the side of his head against hers. She felt his deep, contented sigh like it was her own.

He said in a voice even lower than a whisper, probably meant to be just to himself, "Guess I can't."

"Can't what?" She responded quietly.

"Purr when I'm not Chat. I'd be purring like a truck right now if I could."

She giggled, and scratched his head right where he liked it anyway.

Even before they knew each other's identities and despite Ladybug insisting on professionalism, she couldn't help but give her chaton a little scratch when he seemed particularly down after patrol. It was meant to be a teasing joke, but it turned out to be a slippery slope. He had tried to hide when he was feeling poorly at first, even embarrassed and surprised himself when it made him start purring. That didn't last long. Give this needy cat an inch and he'd take a mile. Soon he was loudly lamenting to her when he was suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Oh, if only someone would offer him some solace! He'd stagger around with the back of his hand to his head, ears drooped and tail between his legs.

Not having those props and the physical changes they came with at the moment, Adrien simply breathed. The way they were pressed against each other, she could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest. His hot breath tickled her shoulder and rustled her hair when he exhaled. It wasn't the loud chest rumbling she liked so much, but was even better in some ways. All was quiet and peaceful.

Tikki and Plagg's quiet, indistinct conversation blending in with the occasional muffled talk between people passing by outside and soft glide of cars in the street served as background noise.

The soft light of her own lamp and what streamed in through the windows from the streetlamps kept her room comfortably lit.

For Marinette, it was familiar and routine. She didn't think about any of it. Just the warmth, the sound, and the feeling of her other half as they held one another.

She could have stayed like that forever.

Eventually, Adrien exhaled in a sigh and inhaled deeply before he pulled back. Slow and reluctant, he said, "I have to ask you to do something for me."

"Anything."

"You're not going to like it."

"I don't care."

"I wouldn't ask you if I could do it alone. It's just, I want us to be together without any trouble, but... I don't want to hurt or alienate anyone, either."

"Ask me even if you _can_ handle something yourself, dummy," she ruffled his hair, earning a bashful smile. "So, what is it? I have a feeling this isn't about me getting in trouble from your fans and my Eurovision lies."

He paused. "It's Chloé."

"... You're right, I don't like it."

"Neither do I," he groaned, leaning his head back. "But she's still my friend."

"You have a funny definition of 'friend' when it comes to her," Marinette muttered darkly.

"I know. I know how much you don't like her, and I don't blame you. Four years of her, and before Alya was there for you for most of it. Just... I'm one of her only friends, you know?"

"More like you're her only friend. Since she just does whatever Chloé wants, Sabrina's more like an underling, to be honest. It's not healthy."

"Yeah, exactly. I got lucky. I still don't know what I did right to deserve you all, but... I didn't even know what a friend was, not really. Not until Nino came along and then you and Alya too, you know? You all make me a better person. It's fun, of course, but you all challenge me too- in a good way! Chloé, she doesn't have anyone like that. Even I haven't been a real friend," he said, staring up at her ceiling all the while.

"Adrien, it's not about doing something right," she ran her fingers through his hair. "You deserve friends. You just do."

He looked into her eyes, sincerely questioning, "If I do, then does she?"

Marinette sighed then closed her eyes hard and slumped over onto her back with an _'ughhhhh.'_ She didn't just not like it, she hated it, but she couldn't say no to him.

Adrien moved to lay back beside her. He was silent for a while.

"I think it's like... You ever get so stuck somehow you don't know how to get out of it?" He asked, turning a wrist around in a circle. "Or, more like, you know whatever it is you should do, but it's so out of your comfort zone it feels impossible?"

She thought about how she would have acted over knowing his dual identities if he hadn't made her talk to him as soon as possible. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"I think Chloé's like that."

"Like that with what?"

"Hmmm... She sort of... lives in her own dream world. She ignored us holding hands because she wants me for herself, she ignores when she does something wrong because she knows it, she ignores when people don't like her because she wants to be loved. Or at least, she pretends to ignore all that. If she doesn't like it, she tries to convince herself that's not how it is. Spoiled little Daddy's Girl, right? The mayor's her only parent, too."

"Oh... I never thought of that. I didn't know."

"Yeah, she hasn't had a mother around. If she did, who knows? ... Anyway, I didn't realize until after, but Chloé wasn't around at all when the class ambushed us over the whole hand holding thing," he said. He exhaled in something of a laugh, but his tone turned sober as he continued, "I think I know why. She must have noticed too. Just, she wasn't supportive or neutral about it like the rest. She didn't like it, of course, so... She walked away from it. But she can't do that forever. I mean, we proved we can't help being all PDA, and I'm just going to get more highkey about it too-"

"-Oh yeah, we're gonna make Alya hurl rainbows and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"Yep. I don't know how Chloé's going to react to that, but it won't be pretty."

"No kidding. I can imagine the shrieking and stomping. Not looking forward to that. She'll probably find _some_ way to get me suspended too. So, I'm guessing you have some idea?"

"We have to get her, uh- 'unstuck,' you know?"

Marinette turned onto her side to give him a wry look. "Unstuck from the habit of being a mean, self-centered, entitled bully?"

"Well... Yes. Look, she's only ever had one role model and it's 'Daddykins,' remember? The 'Daddykins' who caused Darkblade with his smear campaign. Imagine growing up learning how to live from a _politician,_ " Adrien said dryly. "No wonder she's gotten the rest of the class akumatized."

She couldn't help but snort. "Okay, point taken. So what, we... Resocialize her?"

"Well, you did condition me," he smirked at her.

"True, but you're impressionable and like, half cat."

"Putty in your hands, my lady."

"Mmhmm. Chloé, on the other hand, is," she stopped and swallowed her words. "I won't even get started, you don't want to hear it."

"Thanks. Thing is, I get why she's been stuck in that- that vicious cycle. I kinda felt the same with the whole chewing gum thing... I was so scared you wouldn't forgive me and that was _one_ thing. Once. I was terrified. Thought I'd messed up too bad and wanted to fix it however. I guess that's why I couldn't help letting my guard down and admitting to you how new everything was for me. I was so out of my depth, so unsure of myself," Adrien looked over sadly. "Chloé must be like that deep inside too. I can't even imagine how scary and hard it must be after years- all her life. What she's gotten herself into, it can't feel good, but it's all she knows, and at least she can't get hurt if she keeps acting like that. Not really, not in any way she's not used to already."

"If she's so comfortable being awful, how do you even know she _wants_ to change?" Marinette dropped on her back again, crossing her arms.

"She idolizes you, remember? Ladybug."

"Yeah, and she hates Marinette."

"Both because she sees you being everything she wants to be, but doesn't know how."

That hung in the air. The thought was so wild to her. Then again...

"You know, Chloé's not my first bully. There was this boy in primary school," Marinette said thoughtfully. "He kept making these... Clumsy, confusing attempts to say sorry, except he never really said sorry, so I didn't get it. I do in hindsight, didn't then. Every time, I just went on the defensive immediately. It's not even that I hated him- I was just scared. So I'd push him away, and he'd keep bullying me, and nothing got any better. I don't think about it a lot now, but when I do... I wish I did things differently."

She paused. "You know what Alya told me when we first met?"

"What's that?"

"'All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.' I never thought it'd mean teaching Chloé how to be a normally functioning human being, though. Neither would Alya, I think, she's a fighter. I'd rather fight, honestly.

"... Actually, you think I can just punch the bullying out of her?"

Adrien laughed. "No, I don't think so, Mari."

"Figures," she grumbled.

"I'm not hearing a 'no.'"

With tension in her voice, she said, "That's because I'll do it. _I guess._ "

"I thought you would." Adrien reached for her hand and brought it up so he could kiss her knuckles. "You're amazing. Thank you."

 

* * *

 

Her acceptance, even if reluctant, really hadn't surprised him. He knew all it would take was making her understand a little better. Their best friends were a much harder sell. They looked at him like he had just informed them that he was having himself and Marinette strip down to play piñata with beehives then cover themselves in the honey before frolicking through bear country.

"Boy, if you think I'm letting you subject my girl to this, you got another thing coming," Alya gave him a withering glare.

"Alya," Marinette said evenly. "I agreed to this out of my own free will."

"Did you? Did you really? You're sure he didn't drug you?"

"What? No! He didn't."

"Are you drugged right now?"

"No!"

"Sounds like something a drugged person would say."

Nino nodded sagely in agreement before turning to Adrien. "Bro, we need to have a talk about treating your girl right."

"I don't need a talk like that!" Adrien said, supremely indignant.

"Okay, so maybe that was a little much, but I still say subjecting Marinette to Chloé constitutes a form of maltreatment."

"Look, we both agreed, and all I want is for us to pair up with Chloé and Sabrina next time we have a four-person group thing instead of you two. That's not so much to ask, is it?"

"Fine, dude, I guess I can't stop you two, but remember," Nino wagged a finger at him. "I formed an Adrien beatdown squad. It may have been founded on keeping your dumb ass from forgetting we all love you and shit, but! I'm pretty sure we'd all be willing to carry out our duties because of you being a dumbass to Mari too."

It was Alya's turn to nod sagely in agreement. He could _feel_  the threat. He gulped. Stay strong, Adrien, Chloé needs you.

"You guys, please stop threatening to beat up my boyfriend. We only just got together, I don't want you to kill him yet," Marinette sighed. _'Yet?'_ "Anyways, if I'm lucky, It won't even come up for a long time."

Ms. Mendeleiev put them in a three person group with Chloé that morning for a long term project. Adrien was thrilled. This was even better, no Sabrina to reinforce her bad habits. Chloé had demanded a change, of course, but if any teacher could put her (or any student) in their place, it was Ms. Mendeleiev. Marinette made him turn around with the steady thumping of her head against her desk, the thousand yard stare of WWI soldiers in battlefield artists' paintings in her eyes.

Operation Don't Stop Bee-lieving was go.

As students changed seats to form their groups and plan out who was doing what then begin on their work, Adrien's optimism was already waning. He had expected this, to be honest. It was part of the reason why he had chosen the operation name (other than it being hilarious.) Nino and Alya's judgmental looks did not help, but Marinette sitting down beside him without complaint did. Even if her thousand yard stare remained. She forced a smile over at Chloé as the girl sat down on his other side before saying, "Ugh. Adrikins, can you believe we have to work with _her_?"

He shared a meaningful glance with Marinette as Chloé began filing her nails. Oh boy, this was some deep denial. He had even been firm and shut her down in no uncertain terms when she threw herself at him this morning- something Nino was full of pride for him over, but he had been feeling badly about since. Now, Adrien felt it had been for the best because if she had done it here, the simmering resentment in his girlfriend's eyes would have led to defenestration.

"Chlo, Mari's a great project partner," he said gently. Okay, so this was a science project and it wasn't her strongest subject, but her hardworking nature made up for that. They'd be fine... As long as there weren't many akuma attacks. And his schedule didn't pile up too much. And Chloé did at least some work.

Oh man, this project was fucked.

Also: Awkward. Super awkward. He had completely underestimated how nerve wracking it would be to sit between his ever supportive but prone to outbursts of jealousy and vicious shade throwing girlfriend and his childhood friend, with whom he was sympathetic, but was undeniably cruel and hard to deal with. He was doused in gasoline, holding a lit match, and standing between two powderkegs.

Adrien had learned long ago that he had a grand habit of doing things without thinking them through. This was one of those things. Like the jumping into the way of evil super powers with usually unknown but undoubtedly negative effects thing. Just infinitely worse.

"So," he cleared his throat. "How do you two want to divide up the work? I'm fine with doing whatever."

"Let me see," Marinette said, reaching for the project handout. "If there's anything I'm pretty good with already, I'll go for that."

Chloé slapped her hand down on it and slid it towards herself, almost scratching Marinette in the process.

Marinette took a deep, calming breath and stared ahead, clenching her jaw.

Flipping through the stapled pages, scanning over the words and figures, Chloé looked completely disinterested. She threw it back down on the table- in the direction away from Marinette, enough that it would be out of her reach. "Oh, whatever. I'll get Sabrina to do it."

"This is a really big project," Marinette said through gritted teeth, reaching all the way across the desk for the handout. Chloé glared at her as she had to put a steadying hand on Adrien's back and pressed against his shoulder in doing so. "Sabrina would be completely overworked. It wouldn't be fair to her. _We_ are going to do this _together_ even if we _don't like it._ "

Adrien grinned nervously and gave her the handout himself, pulling out a notebook and pen as she moodily looked through it. Putting on his cheeriest, most bomb defusing voice, he said, "Okay, how about this? First, I'll list everything we can do independently! Then we can go from there, huh?"

Both girls made vaguely affirmative noises as Marinette gave him the project outline and the two went back to trying to ignore each other. Marinette was breathing like a bellows. Chloé was buffing her nails so aggressively she might remove them entirely. Adrien was sweating bullets. 'Don't Stop Bee-lieving,' he reminded himself.

As the three went over the list, Chloé did her best to claim anything Marinette said she wanted to do for herself. He had to mediate so the two would meet each other halfway, though he was pretty sure they started playing mind games with each other at some point. He had no idea if they even ended up with work they wanted to do at all.

This project was so fucked.

 

* * *

 

'Do it for him,' Marinette reminded herself for the 26th time in about half as many minutes. She refused to use his operation name. It was stupid. This whole thing was stupid, but she had to do it for him. Twenty-seven.

The most irritating thing was that Chloé had snatched up one of the easiest parts for herself and now she was whining about how hard it was in her stupid, grating voice. Adrien was trying to explain it to her, but he had a habit of going over people's heads even when toning it down to what he thought was a much more basic level. It was clearly going over her head now.

Marinette forced herself to grasp at the small bit of sympathy for Chloé that bubbled up before it submerged again and built it all the way up into a fuck she could give. She couldn't believe she was doing this. She completely understood this part.

"Adrien, I don't really get it. Can you..." She thought, 'Do it for him.' Twenty-eight. Marinette bit out, "Can you dumb it down for me?"

He raised his brows at her for a moment before he got it. They'd done a higher level assignment on this subject with Alya and Nino just last week. Chloé had never done this herself. "Uh, sure, which part are you having trouble with?"

Marinette was normal level competent with this, not freaking ready, willing, and able to intern at a laboratory already level, so she could guess at what was the hardest concept to grasp.

Chloé smirked at her before Adrien got her attention again. Marinette seethed, but she had to hand it to Chloé, she looked like she actually was making an attempt to follow along with his explanation. Her jaw was set, lips drawn instead of in her usual haughty pout. In fact, they actually drooped a little as she frowned. Her shoulders were tense and drawn in too. She kept looking away momentarily when her eyes glazed over. Wait, was she actually... Embarrassed?

Still, Chloé looked stubborn. So even if she didn't get it, she wouldn't say anything?

"... I'm still confused about this part," Marinette told Adrien, swallowing her own pride.

They had to keep stepping it down until were actually at cinquième level, two grades earlier, before Chloé got it and could work her way back up to complete the task. The three had ended up spending the entire class helping her through the one thing, except to shuffle work division up again in order of difficulty for her, but she looked happy about managing it at the end. Adrien grinned wide at her sense of accomplishment, and even Marinette couldn't help a proud little smile for her.

Then she had to ruin the moment by saying how magnanimous Adrien was for entertaining poor, stupid Marinette with a loud, patronizing laugh.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, looking longingly at the group Alya was in. 'Baby steps,' she told herself.

When she started to pack her things up, she felt eyes on her. She looked up and caught Chloé giving her a conflicted, confused look. Just for a moment. Then she stuck her nose up in the air and exited the classroom, barking at Sabrina. Marinette knew unsure, and she knew the look of someone trying to hide it.

Even if literally everyone was better at hiding it than her.

Damn it.

A new counter was started in her head. One.

'Do it for her.'

Adrien smiled at Marinette and bumped shoulders. She was so done, she was ready to walk out of school and never come back. Of course, she couldn't, not looking at how happy he looked now. He had so much heart it was all she could to to try and match him. She smiled back even if more weakly. He kissed her on the head and took her hand, muttering, "Bien joué."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so a Chloé arc was definitely something I wanted to do, but this chapter literally gave me a headache. Damn, Chloé, at it again with being so frustrating you break the fourth wall to piss people off.
> 
> FreakIGN CHLeoe (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
> 
> ┬──┬ ノ( ゜-゜ノ) hnnnnnggfffffghjkhghkhl i feel u mari im in this for the long haul too but idk if i can do it lord have mercy
> 
> Edit: The night of posting this, my mom wore a black and white patterned top with a yellow cardigan and, internally, I was like MOM NO.


	10. Good Cop, Onii-Sama... Cop?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya & Nino have a serious talk with Adrien about The Chloé Situation. Mom and Dad do not approve. The squad isn't having a good time with all of this, so Nino decides to split with Marinette for some quality buddy time.
> 
> I establish the Adrinette relationship and what's the first thing I do? Put it on the rocks lmao ayyyy ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ

_Fwump._  
  
That was the last clear sound Adrien remembered hearing. That and Alya hissing in his ear, _"Do not struggle."_ Like he could have. His old karate instructor would have proud of the hold she had on him.  
  
Nino told him in a chillingly emotionless voice that he knew his schedule was free for a while so don't even try to make excuses.  
  
With the burlap sack scratching at his skin, he could see a bit through the obstruction of thick, rough fibres. Mostly, that meant Kim and Ivan's backs. His mental cries for Gorilla to see and save him were in vain.  
  
The sack didn't muffle much sound from his hearing, but his kidnappers were quiet anyway. On top of that, there was a lack of usual Paris hustle and bustle. Smells and unsmooth pavement under his feet added to the suspicion that he was being led through sidestreets and alleyways. Ivan and Kim were even silent with their farewells, simply waving sharply and leaving. Then he was led downstairs and into some cold, cavernous area.  
  
It was happening.  
  
Adrien couldn't help but think of Poe's The Casque of Amontillado and the scene where the man was walled up with brick and mortar into an alcove where he would die slowly and waste away alone in the dark, his only futile recourse to scratch at stone with his nails.  
  
After being shoved brusquely into a hard wooden chair, the burlap sack was pulled off him. Immediately, he was blinded by a single bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling by a chain. Once his vision adjusted a bit, he realized he was in some industrial setting. An abandoned warehouse, maybe? Some heavy sheaf of paper was dropped in front of him. He looked up to see his friends looking darkly at him from across a steel table.  
  
"Am I going to die?" He asked, resigned to his fate if he were.  
  
He thought some affirmation would be the most frightening response, but he learned that it wasn't, not as much as, "We'll see."  
  
"... This is you being mad about the Chloé thing, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes," Alya snarled. Actually snarled. He did not realize a person could make such a primal snarling sound as they spoke. Good lord.  
  
"I'm not mad," Nino said. "I'm just disappointed."  
  
That was so much worse. Adrien had heard about this whole 'just disappointed' thing from parents being the worst before, but he hadn't realized the truth of it before Nino had done it to him. He looked down, feeling more ashamed than he could remember ever being, to see... A menu?  
  
"Wait, is this not a murder dungeon?" He looked up with confusion.  
  
Despite themselves, Alya and Nino looked at each other and started laughing quietly. The latter said, "Dude I wish. I'd love some secret lair, but with Paris real estate costs? Not happening. Then again, I haven't checked under my house for a batcave."  
  
"Wait, have _you?"_ Alya looked over to ask, eyes hopeful. "Under the Agreste Mansion?"  
  
"... No. No, I haven't," Adrien said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Okay, okay, what is this place, then?"  
  
What could possibly look so much like an industrial murder dungeon, literally underground, complete with cool, clinical furnishings out of an action movie's interrogation room? But with menus.  
  
"Hipster restaurant."  
  
"Ohhhh," Adrien finally looked up and around him. Of course.  
  
"Back to the point," Nino said. "Maybe I don't need to give you like, a birds and the bees type talk about how to treat your girlfriend. I get it, I know you. You wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone, much less Mari, but bro. You're an idiot sometimes. You're fucking up big time."  
  
"That's right. We have _tried_ to give you a few days to get your shit together but the fucking _toll_ this is taking on Marinette that I hear about every day? Uh-uh, this is _not_ gonna stand!" Alya exclaimed with an open palmed table slam that would make an objecting lawyer proud. The force of the noise actually made Adrien startle. "We are taking you to task, boy, and you better be ready. Nino's been holding me back but-"  
  
"Drinks?" A bored voice asked. Their server, apparently, and not looking the least bit concerned about what was happening.  
  
Flatly, everyone gave their usual café drink orders.  
  
"Anyways- do you have any idea what you've forced Marinette into?!" Alya yelled as their server casually loped away.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't force her into anything, I'd never-"  
  
"- You didn't _think_ you were, and you didn't mean to, but this is Marinette! She's too crazy about you to say no, she's too crazy about _helping people_ to say no- ever. Even when it'd kill her. Or worse, mean spending time with Chloé. You know, the chick who's made school life a living hell for her for _years?"_  
  
"She's never had a problem saying no at all before! Heck, if anything, she's really commanding," Adrien countered. Man, Alya didn't know the half of it when she said 'even when it'd kill her.' She didn't know how many times Marinette had shut down Chat Noir (sometimes it had _stung,_ ) sassed city razing akuma, and told off city officials either.  
  
Nino and Alya exchanged a look with brows raised. She said, "Look, Adrien. I know you two have clicked crazy well over these last couple of months, but it's still only been a couple months you've actually gotten to spend time with Mari normally. All things considered? You barely know the girl. Trust me, I'm her best friend. I've clicked crazy well with her since the beginning of the year.  
  
"Has she had kickass moments like you're saying? Hell, yeah. But it sounds like you got tunnel vision. Blinders on. You're in love with her, like _'holy shit'_ in love, of course you're putting her on a pedestal. She lets her inner badass out sometimes, but... Most of the time, she's way too sweet for her own good. She's not _meek,_ but she's not 24/7 cool and in command. She's no superhero."  
  
Except she was.  
  
Well, half the time. He knew that, but she-  
  
Oh.  
  
Alya knew Marinette. Adrien knew Ladybug.  
  
He was the one didn't know the half of it.  
  
_'I have to remind myself all the time I'm Ladybug,'_ she's said before to him. He'd laugh it off, say she was being silly.  
  
_'You're Ladybug with or without the mask!'_ He'd overhear Tikki tell her. He'd never thought about why he'd hear the kwami remind her heroine so much.  
  
Adrien put his head in his hands, fingers curling in hard enough he felt his nails in his scalp. _'We know the important things,'_   he had said. _'That's all that matters.'_  
  
He had been fucking wrong.  
  
"I... I'm an idiot. You're right. She's just- so amazing. Incredible. She _should_ be just as confident and sure as La- a superhero, but, of course. Of course she can't be all the time." He should understand- should have understood- better than anyone.  
  
After all, who was the one who kept Chat Noir caged up inside?  
  
"Nino, can I see your phone?"  
  
"Uhh, okay," he handed it over.  
  
Adrien pushed the button to display running programs in a cascade. There was a group chat. He thought so. There were even the messages co-ordinating his kidnapping with Ivan and Kim. (Or Metal Bear and The Kimsperience)  
  
**_Adrien Appreciation/Beatdown Squad_**

******* DJeneral [4:42PM]**  
Hi, everyone, sorry to bother you. This is Adrien, I borrowed Nino's phone. Please kill me. Thanks in advance.  
  
**Rose'n'Gunses [4:42PM]**  
LOL ok launch code? *^_^*  
  
He returned the phone before leaning limply back in his chair. Even Rose was in the beatdown squad.  
  
"Nice try, Mr. Melodrama. We knew you'd probably ask at some point so there's a code. I know half of it, Alya knows the rest." Nino turned to explain to her, "He asked the squad to kill him."  
  
"Please give them the code so I can receive a painful death."  
  
"Uh-uh, you are _not_ getting off that easily," Alya leaned over the table. "Death by curb stomping is too good, I am getting rusty torture implements and making you _pray_ for the sweet release of death."  
  
"Here's your order," their server gave them their drinks, deadpan as ever. "Can I get you anything to eat?"  
  
"We're good, thanks."  
  
"Let me know if you need anything," they sighed and walked away.  
  
"No one is killing or torturing anyone," Nino said, gently pulling his girlfriend back down to her seat by the shoulder. He leaned in to fix a very serious gaze on Adrien, though. "But you seriously need to stand up for your girl more, even if we all know she can do it herself. Telling Chloé off about getting all up in your space was a good start. Mari's not gonna be as fierce as she should be, especially not if she's in the whole helping people mindset. I don't give a shit about the weird hangups you got with your childhood 'friend,' but I do give a shit about Mari. About you and Mari. You should too. I mean, fuck, bro, get your priorities in order!"  
  
Adrien hunched into his coffee mug, head low, and nodded soberly. There was more grilling, admonishment, and lecturing, all of which he took in without argument. It only ended when an alarm went off on Nino's phone, one he'd set up so he'd know when Adrien really did have to go.  
  
After failing spectacularly at anything else, the photographer had to change the tone of the shoot to broody. Adrien couldn't get it out of his mind; he had promised to protect her, and he had failed.  
  
"Let me put this in words you'll understand, weeb," Alya had said. "You've been way too nii-chan with Chloé and you need to be onii-sama."  
  
By God, would he be onii-sama.

 

* * *

  
  
That had been days ago now.  
  
Nino was a patient guy. He was an understanding guy. Adrien was like the brother he never had.  
  
Nino was also salty as fuck with him. As much as he and Alya had needed to give that talk, it had sort of backfired too. Adrien didn't seem able to hide his feelings around Marinette and the moping wasn't helping her. If he knew his bro, and he did, he hadn't even spoken or apologized to her about being a fuckup yet.  
  
She didn't need to be worrying about her, for once deservedly, self-loathing boyfriend on top of the stress of Chloé Hell. She _would_ worry and she _wouldn't_ listen to him and Alya if they told her Adrien had been and was being kinda assholish and she didn't need to put up with his shit or care. The least he could do was get her mind off it. Besides, Nino needed it too. He was usually inseparable with his bro, but even best bros needed some time away from each other sometimes.  
  
"Hey Green," Alya said as soon as lunch bell rang. "The subs came out for new Kamen Rider last night, did you watch it yet?"  
  
"Oh... Yeah, I did." Adrien turned to her, surprised. It was a trap, of course. He _had_ been a lot better about running interference between Chloé and Marinette, but Alya was still not going to be all sunshine with him. Geekout session or not.  
  
"Nope," Nino said quickly. "Come on Mari, we're ditching these nerds."  
  
"Yeah, let's get out of here. Grab lunch and hang out at the Trocadéro?"  
  
"Sounds good. I'm in a soup and sandwich mood, you?"  
  
"Yeah, same."  
  
"Cool, we can go to this diner I like and get something to go!" She agreed and they made their way out. Considering the elephant sized drama llama in the room when the whole squad was together, Nino felt tons better hanging out with just her. Even with Alya, it was all venting. "Man, Mari, I just realized we've never actually spent time alone together or even just like, had a one on one conversation like our SOs do with their nerd shit."  
  
"That's true! It's nice to spend time with you, I love talking with you when everyone's together. About time, I guess," she said. "I wonder what kind of 'nerd shit' we have in common."  
  
"I dunno, what kind of music do you like? I mean, other than Jagged Stone and hard rock, which I noticed you were super into. You were a one woman mosh pit at that concert after the hotel thing. Damn, girl."  
  
She laughed. "Yeah, I got pretty into it. I don't know, classic rock too, I guess. I really like Queen."  
  
"Sure, who doesn't? Like, other than rock though?"  
  
"Well, I usually like almost everything in your newsletter mixes," she said. He beamed. "Other than that... I don't really listen to music."  
  
Nino stopped, eyes wide in disbelief, as they reached an intersection. Sorry? Excuse you? After a while, he felt Marinette tugging on his sleeve and telling him the light changed. "My bad, I spaced. I just- I felt like... Like you just told me you live on water. Just water. Plain fucking water. You don't eat or drink anything else. Not unless I spoonfeed you."  
  
"Come on, Nino, that's a little dramatic. I think Adrien's rubbing off on you."  
  
"It's the model in me," he joked. "Oh shit, actually, let me show you my phone lockscreen. This one time, I was dropping Adrien off for a shoot? They actually pulled me in to substitute for a no-show model dude- hold on, I'll show you once we get seats."  
  
Nino went into the diner first, holding the door open behind him for her. It wasn't busy so they got to choose their own table then said thanks to their server for the menus.  
  
He showed her his phone's lockscreen. It was a photo of a very nervous looking Nino actually in an honest to God button up shirt and slacks with accessories. Adrien was at his side, hands stretched out as if to present him, a serious look of pride on his face. It always reminded Nino of that one Will Smith photo. Marinette started laughing hard.  
  
"Right? Probably my favourite photo of us. This was the only clear one though because the stylist or whatever taking it for us kept laughing too, she had to take like a dozen photos before one came out not blurry."  
  
"You look great here! You should dress up a little once in while."  
  
"Yeah..." Nino rubbed the back of his head. "Alya gets on my case about it, too. It just feels weird. Loose clothes are comfy for me, you know?"  
  
"Oh no, I don't mean to get on your case!" Marinette was quick to put her hands up. "I know people can be uncomfortable about it. If you ever want, though, I'd be glad to make something for you! I barely ever get to make menswear."  
  
"Hah, I wouldn't want to waste your talents, bro."  
  
"Don't say that, I agree with Alya when she gushes about you, you know. Like you have a really chiseled nose, even now. I bet once we all lose our baby fat you're going to look like, I don't know... Some rugged action hero."  
  
It was Nino's turn to laugh hard, though partially to cover up embarrassment. He wasn't comfortable about this kinda talk. It was nice to hear it from a (mostly) unbiased person, though. Of course, his mom and aunties always told him what a handsome boy he was but like, come on, they were his mom and aunties. "Wait... Alya gushes about me?"  
  
"Oh my God, yeah. I'm not surprised you don't know, though. She's super bad about just saying how much she likes people, she'd rather uh, do stuff for you, you know?"  
  
"Oh yeah, she's always sending me info about possible gigs and contests for audio equipment," Nino chuckled. "Come to think of it? One time I think she did try to tell me... something. I still don't really know what she was going for, but she was all like, 'Your eyes are like... Fuck! How are eyes gold? Your eyes are so gold. Shit. How is that even an eye colour? Christ! And your face? What the hell?'"  
  
Marinette laughed. "Yup, that's her."  
  
"I couldn't stop laughing, I've seen her writing. That girl can write a picture but then she tried whatever that was and all she could do was swear a metric shit ton with like a gram of compliments. Still, I don't know, that was... weird, but I was glad. I get kinda self conscious about being with her when she's so pretty, you know?"  
  
"I _know._ She's _so_ pretty. She has a perfect hourglass figure, I'm so glad she models for me to make her clothes even though it's not really her thing."  
  
"Whaaaat? Man, I only ever see her wearing plain stuff. I mean she _rocks it,_ of course, but I wanna see her in stuff you make for her. I guess it makes sense though, it's not like we ever go on fancy dates. I mean, other than casual-ass dates, I just see her at school, or to help her babysit her little sisters. She is so funny and adorable with them," Nino grinned, resting his chin in a hand. "I can't believe it. I mean, I love the little ladies but they wear me out. Her? She's so patient and sweet with them."  
  
"I know, I babysit just one little girl and- ugh, I don't know how she's so amazing with them. She's like a horse whisperer, except, you know, not horses... Little girls."  
  
They mutually gushed about Alya for the rest of the time in the diner. Nino was endlessly impressed with how her hair was always on point. Marinette said she was just so _good_ and _principled_ and she just loved her _so much._ They got so into it, they ended up punctuating their points by swearing in disbelief.  
  
Apologizing for their language once they got their orders, they were quick to exit and start making their way to the Trocadéro.  
  
"I've been thinking the music thing might not be a total wash," he said. "You like old musicals, right? Alya says you guys go to the cinema a lot too, you've gotta like some of the soundtracks."  
  
"With Alya, we mostly focus on the story and talk about that after. I've never really thought about the sound, but I guess it really adds a lot to the movie. I remember this one article saying the music and sound was the biggest part of what made The Shining so scary."  
  
Nino's eyes lit up. "Yeah, no, you're totally right! Music, sound effects, atmospheric noise, it's all _super_ important to the delivery. Sound design teams always get pretty much ignored when it comes to big awards shows but the stuff they do is my favourite part."  
  
"Maybe you should do movie scores when you grow up!" Marinette said cheerily.  
  
He chuckled weakly. "I don't know about that... They've always been orchestral. Classical music's not my thing and I don't know music theory. Like, at all. I'm just self-taught. Don't see it happening, Mari, not unless they start using EDM for soundtracks."  
  
"EDM?"  
  
"Oh, electronic dance music. That's mostly what I do when I DJ."  
  
As they sat on the Trocadéro steps, Marinette happily listened to him talk about music and cinematography between gulps of food. He asked once in a while if he was boring her, but she did seem really interested. They especially spoke about animated movies, which they both liked.  
  
"Wow," she said. "I've always been impressed with 2D animation- you know, because I have to draw a little to design, but I'm no illustrator. I do like to learn about art all the same, even I'm more about actually making things. Drawing and shading and colouring and all that stuff is hard enough. I knew they had to worry about composition, but I never thought about them having to work with camera cuts and angles and everything, too."  
  
"Hey, you should watch some movies that do film techniques right with me some time. I'll point shit out for you. I mean, from the sounds of it you don't mind old movies right? Modern mainstream's kinda lazy about it."  
  
"That'd be great! I'll take you to the Louvre some time and do the same thing. Uhh, as well as I can, anyway."  
  
"Deal. Pinky swear?"  
  
She laughed. "Seriously?"  
  
"Hey, the pinky swear is a time honoured and solemn, binding contract," Nino said, holding out his pinky. Marinette took it.  
  
"Alright, pinky swear."  
  
They went back and forth about art and film technique so much they had to rush to school to be back on time.  
  
On the way, they agreed if Nino ever did up action hero-y, Mari was totally going to be his buddy cop. He pegged Adrien for the damsel in distress she was always incidentally saving, and she said Alya must be the crime beat reporter who couldn't help but fall for the focused, yet funny and affable cop with a heart of gold.  
  
Nino gave Marinette a crushing hug as if it were the last time they'd ever see each other again as they entered Science class.  
  
"Good luck with Chloé Hell," he said.  
  
Marinette patted his back before they pulled apart. "Thanks, but it'll be fine. I'll live. Besides, she's been... Marginally less horrible."  
  
"Yeah, dude, within margin of error."  
  
"It's only been a week, give her time. She can't change overnight."  
  
"Ugh, that still leaves another week of hell on this project. Mari, your faith in people is great and all, but you need to take care of yourself too, you feel me? This is one of those things where only you can help yourself. Alya- it's killing her that she can't do more for you and I feel the same way, bro. You gotta do what we can't for you! So don't take her shit, alright? Especially not just 'cause of Adrien."  
  
"It's not- Well, okay, it started off for him," Marinette admitted. "It really is about her now, though. I _want_ to help her. I really think I see her wanting to change and, trust me, it wasn't easy for me to admit that to myself."  
  
Nino sighed. "If you say so. Just remember, you are the loose cannon cop who don't take no guff."  
  
"Thanks, Nino," she laughed. "Anyway, if I get too close to throwing her out a window, I can take some downtime with my calm, collected partner."  
  
"You know it, tiger," he gave her double finger guns with a 'pew pew.'

 

* * *

 

Marinette plodded to the lab bench where Adrien was already sitting. She gave his hand a squeeze, a gesture he quickly returned but immediately after, his hand stiffened and he moved it away. He cleared his throat and hunched over his tablet, intent on reviewing what the group had so far. Ms. Mendeleiev would be evaluating each group's project today. It wouldn't be graded yet, but she always kept tabs on how groups split up tasks and was infamous for the harsh words she had for any student who was behind. She had made several cry. It was a wonder she hadn't caused an akuma with it yet.  
  
"Adrien," Marinette said gently. "You're still being weird."  
  
"I'm just worried, you know, about the eval."  
  
"That's not it, you know what I mean."  
  
"... It's not you," he reassured, though he still didn't explain. He never explained and wouldn't look her in the eye when he got like this. She didn't want to be pushy, but she'd have to make them talk about it soon. For now, he was right about focusing on the evaluation. She glanced at Ms. Mendeleiev and shuddered.  
  
He had become project supervisor and he took it very seriously. After the first few days, he was all business when they had work periods. She abruptly had stopped having to play dumb. Instead, he had begun to ask Chloé if she got it, insisting she explain it to him if she tried to lie.  
  
The first time it had happened was tense, to say the least. Chloé laughingly said, "I don't want to embarrass Marinette, you know how bad she is about these things and then she keeps draggi-"  
  
"Chloé," he had interrupted, voice hard. "Explain."  
  
When she didn't, he had stared her down, jaw set. If it were anyone else, in any other situation, she would have undoubtedly stared back at least as fiercely and escalated the situation so as to overwhelm the other person. But it wasn't anyone else. It was Adrien, her childhood friend, who had only ever been soft with her before. Both girls were shocked. Chloé was speechless.  
  
Marinette had spoken up, "Well, for me, I don't get-"  
  
Adrien had given her a pointed look. It didn't have any of the edge in his voice earlier, but it was just as firm. Though he might have had to visibly shake his head with anyone else, the message was clear for her. They often had an entire conversation in a single look during battle. _'Don't pretend you don't get it. Please.'_  
  
"... I think the toughest part is understanding catalysts, the example here is really confusing."  
  
"Right, well, the definition's pretty straightforward, something that makes a chemical reaction rapid, right? In the end product, though..."  
  
Chloé had relaxed a bit, giving Marinette a glance that was too quick to read but had damn well better have been gratitude.  
  
Project work had gotten much easier on her after that, but she'd still rather be working with anyone else in class. The source of of all her frustrations, fashionably just on time, sat at their bench and began prattling on about personal things which she undoubtedly thought was scintillating information for everyone and anyone else. The two ignored her.  
  
Marinette sighed and waited for her to get it out of her system, idly looking over to Adrien. He had a puzzled frown on his face, stylus tapping and flicking on his tablet rapidly with disbelief. After a while, his frown darkened.

"Chloé," he hissed, stopping her mid-sentence. "What the hell is this?"  
  
"Adrikins? I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Don't lie. Who else would have done this? Certainly not Marinette, not to herself, and I sure didn't."  
  
Marinette pulled up their project document on her own tablet. All her work was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For non-weebs: nii-chan is a casual, affectionate way of saying big brother while onii-sama is a much more formal or at least respectful term. Basically, Alya was telling Adrien he has to be tougher with Chloé, even he's still being caring, in the weebiest way possible. (and he ran with it ofc)
> 
> I guess I'm ending up putting the entire brot4's friendships in contexts involving fighting people and not looking backwards at explosions? I'm cool with that. Also, the whole squad will be hot when they're older, and you can't tell me otherwise. Fight me. Seriously though, I've been doing a season rewatch and Nino has a chiseled hawk nose like nobody's business.
> 
> The whole Nino getting pulled into a fashion shoot thing [inspired by the amazing tides-miraculous](http://tides-miraculous.tumblr.com/post/142321911982/okie-but-imagine-if-adrien-had-invited-nino-to-one) and here's [Will Smith doing the thing](http://i.imgur.com/2m2tWAe.jpg).
> 
> This is Electro-Wave Human Tackle and Kamen Rider Stronger. Look at her dorky helmet. Look at it.  
> 


	11. The Good, The Bad, and The— Jesus Christ How Horrifying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallout of Marinette's deleted work and Chloé's overall nastiness the whole time touches down and whatever's been going on with Adrien, Mari isn't going to let him stew over it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _[Slumps over the back of my computer chair. Prolonged groan.]_ Just take this.
> 
> Chapter dedicated to Inknpaperlove and everyone else having a rough time with end of semester school stress. Best wishes with your studies!

"Marinette, this is unbelievable, and you should be ashamed of yourself!" Ms. Mendeleiev's piercing voice was raised in anger. Even knowing she didn't have anything to be ashamed of, Marinette's insides felt like lead and overall much too hot in her coat. "Never have I ever had a student before who didn't have a thing to show for themselves, and after a week!"

"But Ms. Mendeleiev, I swear-"

"I don't want any excuses. Let me guess, it must be some problem with the school's servers? Hmm? I've heard that before. Or my favourite, you 'forgot' to upload your work but oh! It's all done, just at home, you swear!"

"It is! I mean- I do have it, but I was uploading it too! Th-That's it! If you would please just look at the history for uploads, or server activity-"

"You expect me to do that? It is _your_  responsibility to make sure your work is available for evaluation, not mine. I don't want to hear another word out of you. If you had just stayed quiet and taken my words, I'd just send you back to your bench, but for talking back and making excuses, I want you to go to the Principal's office. Now!"

Marinette hung her head. "Yes, Ms. Mendeleiev."

She hastily packed up her things, eyes stinging, shutting everything else out. She felt too overwhelmed- anything more might make the tears flow. Adrien gently said something and touched her arm, while Chloé was completely silent, but Marinette focused on her breathing as she braced herself for talking to Principal Damocles. She briskly walked out hugging her backpack without a word or glance back.

The halls always felt so strange when they were empty. Your footsteps were loud without other students' as company. She took a deep breath and felt Tikki patting her thigh before she knocked on Mr. Damocles' office door.

"Yes? Come in."

Marinette stepped in, shutting the door behind her. "Mr. Damocles? Uh, Ms. Mendeleiev sent me."

"Pardon me?" The large, owlish man asked as he leaned forward in his desk, turning his head slightly.

"Ms. Mendeleiev sent me," she repeated. The tightness in her throat made speaking above a squeak feel like an effort.

"Oh. Have a seat, Marinette. What seems to be the problem?"

She sat down in one of the cushioned seats across from his desk. Despite his gentle tone, his big, angled eyebrows made him look displeased and imposing. "Well, Ms. Mendeleiev was doing an evaluation on our group projects today, because we're halfway through our time for it. She talks to each student about our individual progress, but... None of my work showed up on the computers."

"I see. Do you have some explanation for this?"

"I- I'm not really sure, Mr. Damocles. I have my work backed up at home, I swear! And, and I know I've been saving it to my tablet too, on the shared drive, so it should be on the school's servers," she pursed her lips, thinking. "I- I guess since we share one document, the others in my group have read/write privileges too, but I don't think... Think either of them would have done anything."

"I see," Mr. Damocles said, sitting back. He tapped the fingers of both hands against one another. Marinette swallowed dryly, waiting for his response.

"Well, Marinette, you're a good student, absences and lateness aside. You're even class president, are you not? Hmm...

"I think it's too soon for me to judge. I'll have you called to my office tomorrow morning when I can have Ms. Mendeleiev here as well. I'm sure we'll be able to tell if you've been hard at work or if you've rushed it just tonight."

Marinette sat up, beaming. "Thank you sir! Thank you for giving me a chance."

"Ms. Mendeleiev is very strict," Mr. Damocles said, smiling at her. Well, she thought he was smiling. It's difficult to tell with his big beard. "She's been a teacher for a long time, and I can see why she can be very impatient with students after dealing with difficult ones for so long. However, I believe in giving students second chances. Maybe even thirds or fourths. You never know what burdens others carry, no?"

Oh, he had no idea. Marinette thought of Tikki in her purse as much as of his kindness as she grinned wide and said, "I don't want to let you down, sir!"

"Good. You may go, then. If you have all your things already, I believe you may want to get ready for your next subject instead of returning to Ms. Mendeleiev's class," he said. That was an understatement. Marinette would have preferred to never see the woman again. "Why don't you spend the rest of the period in the library?"

"I'll do that. Goodbye, Mr. Damocles, and thank you again!"

"Goodbye, Marinette. Please shut the door behind you," he (maybe) grinned. It was possible he was blinking a very long time.

She exited and leaned with her back against the door once it was shut with a deep sigh. Taking the long way around just to avoid passing Ms. Mendeleiev's class again, Marinette went to the locker room to change textbooks.

"Marinette!" Tikki's head popped out from from her purse as Marinette was zipping her bag back up. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" She whispered back. Listening closely, she heard a faint noise coming from the girls' washroom. "It sounds like someone's crying. I'll check it out, thanks Tikki."

"Hope you can help!" The kwami said, big eyes shining, before hiding again.

Marinette made her way over and slowly opened the door to go in. Whoever it was quickly went silent.

"Hello?" She called gently. "Is everything okay?"

No response, though one stall was closed. Well hell, she better not see a black butterfly fly into here. Or worse, have missed seeing it. It felt sort of like a creepy thing to do, but she was not going to be jumped by some newly akumatized girl. Uh-uh, not today. Edging along the sinks, she looked at the open spaces at the bottom of the stall doors for shoes. There they were, white flats with a black stripe. It... seemed normal. Wait, they were familiar.

"Chloé?"

Found out, the girl let out a sniffle. Her voice shook as she said, "Go away."

Marinette looked up to the sky. Was she being tested? She took a deep breath and leaned back on the bit of wall by the stall door. "Nope, sorry. I'm not leaving until I find out what this is about."

"What do you care?"

"I don't know, honestly," she said. She didn't want to believe Chloé did anything, but there was the whole having hated each other forever. And she was pretty sure she couldn't be akumatized again, so, whatever on that front. Still... "Just, I guess even if it's only being around, being quiet, I think having another person around helps when you're upset. Considering this is my fourth year around you though, I've learned you're a talker."

"Then you should know by now that I don't like you. I don't want to talk to _you,"_  she shot back. Or croaked, more like. Marinette couldn't help but be impressed that she managed at least some venom in her voice even now. Toads weren't known for ferocity.

"You don't have to, I guess. At least you should know by now I'm no blabbermouth, so it doesn't matter if you mouth off to me."

Chloé went silent again, giving Marinette another chance to mentally debate whether she should just nope away.

"I don't know how long you've been planning this, or working up to this, but it worked. You won. Adrien doesn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. You outplayed me, so just say whatever you want to say and go."

"What? Wait. What? Adrien said that? Oh God," she rubbed an arm. "It's about my missing work, isn't it? It'll be fine, I have a backup, I'll let him know it'll be alright and-"

"-Don't be stupid. We all knew you'd have a backup but he was so pissed about watching you get yelled at by that stupid crone. I've never seen him so mad. I-I couldn't even imagine he could get so angry. Didn't even care that it wasn't me who deleted your stuff. He said he didn't even know if he believed me."

"So it wasn't you."

"Of course not! It was Sabrina and I didn't have anything to do with it, she just thought that I was shutting her out with all the time I've been spending on the stupid project, especially with getting tutors and everything. Thought making fun of you would get her back in my good graces. Fat chance. I told her off and I mean it this time. See how you've ruined everything?"

"How is it my fault? You know what, nevermind. As crazy she was being, please make up with her."

"Wait... I get it, you planned this, didn't you? You've secretly had Sabrina on your side ever since that one time and now you used her to get between me and Adrien so now I- I don't have anyone."

Okay, she was fucking insane. Marinette rubbed the bridge of her nose. Insane, but alone. Hurt.

"No, Chloé, I didn't. That kind of conniving is completely beyond me. Look, I don't want to get between you and Adrien, I- we, the both of us, just want you to be okay with the fact that we're a couple now and maybe get you to be nicer overall too. That is all the planning that's been going on."

"Okay... You have a point. You are too stupid for what I'm thinking." Gee, thanks. "But Adrien's been mean to me lately, what you're saying doesn't make sense. Besides, I will never be okay with you taking him away- all of you. Especially that crass simpleton, Nino. Just the second day in school and already he took the best friend position away from me. We've always been together ever since we were kids, but now I barely see Adrien."

Oh, uh. Wow.

"I underst— well, no, I can't understand. I don't have any friends I've had since I was a little kid, but that must suck."

Chloé scoffed. "You have no idea."

"No, I guess I don't." Maybe Marinette hadn't had any long lasting friendships, but she had never been really alone. "I'm sorry."

"Saying sorry doesn't help me. I don't want your pity."

Marinette fidgeted. Chloé definitely needed a therapist and a life coach, and probably other professionals, none of which she was. She sighed.

"Do you still want me to go away? 'Cause I will this time, if you want."

There was no response for a while. She almost took it as a cue to leave when Chloé spoke up.

"Adrien said something about you playing dumb to help him to help me. Is that true?"

"Yeah, I noticed whenever he tried by himself he'd just make everything more confusing."

She weakly laughed just a breath. Marinette couldn't help but giggle too. She continued, "Once, he started talking about advanced physics when we were just having a normal conversation and I straight up walked away because I couldn't deal with it right then."

Chloé started laughing again lightly.

"It really wasn't that hard to help out. When he tutors me and the others- Nino and Alya? We have to do the same thing, point out what's giving us trouble over and over again until he finally starts speaking normal French instead of... Esoteric dark sciences."

Chloé's laughter trailed off. "He can be a bit of a nerd."

"Yeah. So... Are you going to come out of that stall now?"

"I can't."

"Huh? Why not? Are you stuck? Did you fall in the toilet or something?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Is it the door? Do you need me to break it down for you?"

"No. How would you even? Ugh, stop being so weird. I just- I can't be seen like this."

Oh. Right, if she had been crying, she was bound to have mascara streaks at the least, but considering the heavy eyeshadow she wore all the time too, she must look a mess. "Do you have eye makeup remover in your locker? I don't, but nobody's around right now so you could make a run for it."

"No," she sighed. "Maybe I should just have Daddykins pick me up or send someone."

"Yeah, 'cause that's definitely the way to not draw attention to yourself," Marinette snorted. Before Chloé could retort, she added, "I live just across the street, I'll get remover and makeup, alright? Stay there. I'll be pissed if I run back and forth and you left anyway. Probably just to spite me."

"Don't give yourself so much credit," Chloé scoffed.

A lip curling, "Ehh," was the only response Marinette dignified her with as she ran off.

When she got back, Chloé was still reluctant to leave the stall. Which was justified. She did have blue-black raccoon eyes from crying and dabbing her eyes, some streaking down to her cheek. She tried not to, honestly she did, but Marinette was not known for containing expressions and grimaced. Chloé huddled up into herself and grumbled something.

"Sorry! Uh, let's get you cleaned up, alright?" Marinette put on her friendliest, least 'Jesus Christ how horrifying' smile.

Chloé complained about the makeup remover not being her brand and how it would probably damage her skin. The makeup was cheap. It didn't match her skin tone. And, this one at least both could agree on, couldn't reproduce her usual look. Marinette herself only wore light makeup even when she dressed up, and barely anything at all day to day. It was only with a healthy does of good old French ingenuity that the two of them of them somehow managed to get Chloé cleaned and in makeup again, though not so heavy. Marinette still felt more like she was trying to get Manon to eat a vegetables than like she was having a _~fun makeover with a gal pal~_

The bell rang just as they finished.

"Ugh," Chloé said as she examined her reflection. "It'll have to do. Go on, get your horrible excuse for a makeup kit in your locker. I have to get ready for next period."

"You're welcome," Marinette deadpanned, packing up. The two girls exchanged sneers.

They also elbowed each other as they exited the washroom and all the way to their lockers. Marinette really didn't need to go her locker at all, but she did feel the need to keep elbowing Chloé.

The other girl stopped, and it took a moment for her to realize why. Adrien had spotted them, having just shut his locker and turned. He had a frown on his face, which faded into concern as Marinette marched up to him. She just saw a look of uncertainty on Chloé as she passed.

"Mari, are-" he stopped talking as she grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar, turning and walking him away from Chloé. She expected surprise and at least initial resistance, but he actually relaxed immediately, so much so that she nearly had to drag him. His expression went blank.

"I'm fine, chaton. Chloé and I are fine, so don't give her a hard time anymore over what Sabrina did. I didn't get into any trouble, or won't. Mr. Damocles just wants me to show him and Ms. Mendeleiev my work in his office tomorrow, which I'll put back on my tablet and on a USB drive too just in case. Alright?"

"..."

"Uh. Adrien? Were you listening?" She let go of him.

"Oh. Yeah. I was listening, I just couldn't- Uh, well, if you say it's fine then alright, I'm already regretting how badly I reacted with Chloé," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're sure everything's fine with you?"

"I'm sure. Come on, don't let it ruin the rest of your day," she stood up on tiptoes and leaned her hands on his chest to kiss him on the cheek. He chuckled quietly, just in his throat.

"Well, okay." He held out his arm for her to take to walk to class. Marinette raised a brow at him a moment before she took it and started walking to class.

"Look, whatever else is going on that's been making you act so weird, we have to talk about it. I've been waiting, but enough's enough," she said. Then leaning in, more quietly, "I miss my clingy kitty."

Adrien gave her a smile she felt like she hadn't seen in forever. He averted his gaze downwards for a while before saying, "Next time we go for a stroll?"

Next patrol wasn't until tomorrow night. "Let's do sooner. You've been mulling over this- whatever this is- long enough. Remember when I might have done the same thing?"

"... Alright."

They entered the class to get a hard stare by Alya and Nino. The latter said, "Sheeeiiit, Adrien, you alright bro? I have never seen anyone lose their shit so bad without actually yelling."

"That was pretty onii-sama, though," Alya smiled, holding up a hand.

"I don't know, I feel bad about reacting _that_ angrily," Adrien muttered. He hesitated but gave her a half-hearted high five.

"You're too soft, Green," Alya sighed as he took his seat. Before Marinette could sit down, Sabrina approached her, eyes to the ground.

The girl shuffled her feet. "Uh, Marinette, I'm really sorry about what I did. I just-"

She left her words hanging, lips working but not forming any more words. Marinette sighed through her nose, completely done with this whole situation.

"Chloé explained why you did it. I und— well, no, again, I don't. That was crazy. You're both crazy. You two are so unbelievably crazier than anyone else, you honestly deserve each other, and I'm just glad you kind of quarantine your crazy a little between yourselves since the two of you aren't institutionalized," Marinette said, rubbing her temples. Sabrina really should not have looked so happy about what she just said.

The girl smiled at her before shuffling off to her own seat. Marinette sat down, exchanging _'I don't fucking know'_ looks with Alya.

 

* * *

 

Ladybug waited at their meetup spot for the night. It was different from what was on the calendar for tomorrow, but Chat Noir had insisted. She frowned, checking the time on her yoyo. He could be late sometimes, but this was much later than usual and he wasn't answering calls. She didn't mind waiting, the sound of the concert coming up from within the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées made for a nice atmosphere as she looked south towards the Seine and the trees between. No doubt this was part of some Grand Romantic Gesture™ he had planned.

"Where is that silly cat... ?" Ladybug muttered to herself. She was starting to worry.

Shortly after, she heard him land on the roof behind her. Chat was completely out of breath, having fallen unceremoniously on his knees and shoulders, butt skywards. He wasn't bothering to correct his position. He was too busy heaving air.

"Chat!?" Ladybug rushed over to lay him on his side. "Oh my God. Are you dying. Can you breathe?"

Gasping, he failed at a smirk. So he opted for a thumbs up instead, huffing, "Fine."

"You don't look fine to me! What in the hell happened!?"

"Patrol- done- myself."

"What!? Why? Are you crazy? What were you thinking?!"

"'Sfiiiiine," he exhaled. "Quiet- evenin'. Nothin'. Need- to talk."

Ladybug groaned and started pacing, gesturing with her hands. "We could talk while did patrol, or after, or any time when you weren't trying to burst your lungs."

"Nuhhhh," he rebutted eloquently.

She was still buzzing with anger but turned him over to his back and sat on her knees to put his head in her lap. The cheeky bastard still managed to chuckle up at her, eyes closed. "Oh, save your breath. You have some explaining to do once you're rested up."

After a while of the cold treatment, ignoring him as he batted gently at her arm, she put a hand in his hair. It was hot and damp from sweat, she could tell even through her suit. He closed his eyes as she began combing locks to the side, letting cool evening air in. Whatever it was that put the foolish idea of trying to circuit the entirety of Paris in record time had really taken it's toll on him. When his throat and chest began rumbling, his eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright, trying to stop himself purring. She recognized the attempt, remembering it from the very first times he'd purred.

What was going on?

"Chaton? Are you okay to talk now?"

Chat stood up with a grunt. "Uh, yeah, just let me- I need to do some stuff first."

From nooks and crannies around the roof, he fetched a quilt to spread out on the ground and what turned out to be supplies for a nice picnic. Once everything was laid out, he motioned for her to sit down first. He followed, sitting beside her at a distance, and poured them both sparkling apple cider. He emptied his glass quickly before pouring again.

Ladybug watched with furrowed brows. His ears drooped and he hunched. "Chat... Adrien, you've been down and distant all week. Something's wrong, and we need to talk about it."

"Yeah. It's just- I'm sorry. I need to apologize."

She cocked her head. "About what?"

"About having you put all this time and effort into something you don't want, with someone you don't like and who- who treats you like crap. Just for me. My wishes. That's not normal, is it?" He looked at her, eyes searching.

"It's no excuse, I really don't have one, but the thing is, I thought you'd say no if you really didn't want to. Not do it for me even if you hated it," he looked at the ground to his other side. "I didn't understand you would anyway. I thought I knew you better than I really do, and I was being reckless, and I wasn't thinking things through again, and- but this time I dragged you through it. As scared as I was of losing Chloé, I shouldnt have put that before you."

"Adrien..." She said softly.

Then she smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow! Wh- Well, okay, I deserved that."

"You did. Not for the reasons you think, though," she sighed. "You should have _talked_ to me."

"What if... What if you got mad, and you didn't want me anymore."

"Adrien." Smack.

He grunted to suppress another cry of pain. "You slap _really_  hard."

"Good. I will slap you silly upside the head forever, but I will never stop wanting you, alright? Look at me." He did, hesitantly, and she caught his eyes. "Never. Maybe asking me to help you teach my bully how to act like a decent human being isn't normal, but messing up? That is. It'll happen, especially with how we're rushing into this."

Chat Noir chuckled, the anxiety clutching his heart loosening. Or maybe his heart resuming a regular rhythm after palpitations. Probably both, who knows. He just felt a lot better. "Only fools rush in, right?"

"But I can't help-"

"Falling in love with you," they both finished.

"I understand now. I thought I did, but I didn't," Chat said. "Why you wanted to take it slow and get to know each other better first. Turns out there's a hell of a lot more than the- 'the important things.' You know."

"Yeah, I remember," Ladybug scooted closer to lay on his shoulder, and put a hand through his hair, pulling him in to rest his cheek against her head. This time, he nuzzled into her hair with a grin and began to purr loudly before she even began scratching, letting it roll out of him as he relaxed into her. She giggled. "Maman and papa say they still learn about each other all the time. They've been together twenty years."

"Twenty years, huh? Wow," Chat breathed. "I love hearing about your family."

Ladybug felt like he had more to say, so she sipped at her cider and enjoyed the rumble of her partner beside her as she waited. He reached a hand out for her free one and she gave it to him. Intertwining their fingers, he looked at their joined hands thoughtfully. "Release our transformations?"

"Sure."

A flash of light later, the mingling of colours now familiar, they felt the spring breeze through simple cotton and the bare skin of each other's hands. They let go to greet the kwami.

Tikki immediately cuddled Adrien's cheek, making him laugh lighty as he rubbed her back with a finger. "Hi, Adrien!"

"Hi, Tikki, good to see you again."

"Hey, bug. My kid giving you drama again?" Plagg sat on Marinette's knee and raised his head to accept her chin rubs.

"You know it."

"Hey! I'm right here."

"Yes you are, kid, very nice. I'm proud of you," Plagg drawled. "Anyway, whatever's going on, do me a favour? Make sure he's sighing and swooning tonight, it's a bit more bearable than the whole 'woe is me' thing."

"I'll certainly try."

"Thanks, bug."

"Come on, Plagg, let's stretch our legs!" Tikki flew circles above him, waiting until he was close before she took off. He gave chase with a whine about her unfair head start. Their chosen smiled as they watched them go.

"He's always the least grumpy around her," Adrien said. "Remember the air wrestling once they got to meet and didn't have to immediately transform us or inhale food?"

"That was adorable."

They chuckled as Marinette continued running her hand through his hair and he rubbed his thumb on her hand. Lights from the cars and buses in traffic made glowing lines in the darkening landscape below them, treetops growing dark and indistinct, and the Seine reflected boat lights off it's waters in the distance. Marinette looked over to Adrien. Even in the dark, even without his suit, his eyes seemed to shine bright green. She didn't bother looking back out at the landscape. "You seemed like you wanted to tell me something?"

"Yeah. I guess it's just, I've never told you about my family. Really, all you know is... You have maman's smile," Adrien flashed her a crooked grin that soon fell. "She- she disappeared a few years ago. Pére's never been the same since. Not that he was ever like, I don't know, your papa, but since then he's been so cold and strict. Controlling. He hates ever not knowing where I am, or knowing I'm somewhere without the Gorilla. It's not that he doesn't care about me, I don't think..."

He went on, telling all he could think to. Things he'd never told anyone else, not even Nino. Things he only came to realize from talking about it. He paused sometimes, gathering his thoughts. At one of those points, he moved to lay in her lap and looked up into her eyes as he started again. The words came out hard, buried so deep he had to tug them out, but once he had a grasp on it he didn't feel any reservations about letting them out for her.

Night fell as he spoke. Neither even noticed. He had been afraid that this talk would make her think him a burden. Looking now at her gentle, unwavering eyes, it felt like such a ridiculous notion. All the different shades in them, everything from bright, sunny, cloudless blue, to stormy and foreboding, to midnight. He could have been airing his grievances out into the sky, so vast, so constant, something which could never be tainted. Only, the sky would be uncaring and make him feel small, even if that was a comfort at times. Marinette— not only was she caring, she was so _loving_ that he was sure of her love, as unsure as he may be when it came to anyone else.

Finally, he didn't have anything more to say. "Oh... The sun's set. Sorry, I must have really talked your ear off."

"It's okay, minou, I'm so glad you told me all that. I feel like I can understand you better. Everything makes a lot more sense now. I had no idea just how insecure you are behind all that," she chuckled. "I feel a little bad about being so oblivious."

"No, no, you can't blame yourself. It's a bad habit of mine, hiding stuff behind smiles and things when people could help me. I've gotten good at it. Too good, really." He began laughing lightly. "You know, once Nino got to know me better, he started joking we hit it off so well because of that. Low self esteem, bubbly exterior."

Marinette joined his laughter. "Yeah, I can get that. It reminds me of how maman talks about how there's always balance to everything, dark and light. She and papa don't fight a lot but when they do, that's how she reassures me everything will be fine. Whatever it is about papa that's driving her crazy is just the other side of something that makes her love him so much. So of course they'll hurt each other, sometimes, but they'll take it on together then go right back around to making each other happy. Until the next time.

"I never really got it before, but now I do. You don't want Chloé to be alone, so you let things slide too much, and asked for my help when you thought I was better about... I don't know, handling it all. I'll take the bad with the good. It's all you. Anyway, now you know," she chided, gently shoving his shoulder.

"I'll think twice before I make any more crazy requests of you, I promise," he chuckled. "Your maman's really wise."

"Yeah, she is."

"You know what that makes me think of? Paris, city of lights... I never get to see the stars. Never been camping, you know? Not with my pére. Then again," he grinned cheekily. "I'll always have blue skies in your eyes."

She snickered. "You're so corny. Well, guess what? Two can play at that game, because _you_ are my star right down here."

"What, pulling the semi-celebrity card?" He asked. She shook her head, ruffling his hair. "Or cause I'm blonde?"

"No, you just remind me of a song."

"From Singin'?"

She hummed in affirmation.

"You are," she began. "My lucky star, I saw you from afar, two lovely eyes, at me they were gleaming, beaming, I was star-struck."

Ah, that was right. She had said it was the look in his eyes that day in the rain that did it.

"You're all my lucky charms," she continued, "I'm lucky in your arms."

That made him chuckle. "Hmm, don't know about that. I'm pretty bad luck."

"Shush," she smiled, poking him on the nose. "Not for me."

Adrien lay in her lap and closed his eyes as he took in the rest of the song. He loved her voice, he really did. Though he knew enough about music to describe her voice in technical terms, it was something unidentifiable that did it for him. Something that was just Marinette, he supposed. She finished singing and they spent time in companionable silence, the pleasant breeze intensified from street level from the altitude. It was just enough not to chill, at least not with their contact.

"Mon minou?"

"Yes, my lady?"

"When do you think our kwami are getting back?"

"... No idea. They take forever when they do this."

"How the hell are we going to get off this roof."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, uh, had a bit of difficulty with this chapter. As in, I may have written six other things while working on it just because it was such a slog for me. I'm still not very happy with it, but I figured I'd be done with it and move on. It's just that I wanted to acknowledge Chloé and what she would likely see as the last straw in losing Adrien instead of shrugging and going "she's just being a hot tantrum throwing mess off screen lmao ayy." I completely underestimated how hard it would be. On top of that, going hand in hand, is Adrien (THIS KID ISTG) and HIS issues. I don't want to make this end note too long so if anyone's really that curious about my thoughts behind Chloé and her characterization in this, I can do so in a comment.
> 
> At least now that Adrien "pathological need for no one to be displeased with him or to somehow hurt anyone including his jackass of a childhood friend" Agreste is fine, we can get back to regularly scheduled silliness and our couple can be disgustingly lovey dovey at school.
> 
> DEEP SIGH So there. I just came here to have a good time and honestly, I have been feeling so attacked by seriousness. There is a dire lack of comedy in this one and trust me, no one felt this more than me. Next chapter should be very silly and coming much sooner from all my pent up need to have these children goof off. Have a preview:
> 
> "Ah, but Marinette, the only intoxicant I have had is your presence. That I would not surrender for my very life, heady and overwhelming as it is! My loins quiver at your sight!"
> 
> "Your loins quiver?"
> 
> Another Singin' In The Rain fan suggested I work in You Are My Lucky Star, and it was more of a slight nod than anything, but I didn't know how better to do it. Hope it worked well enough. _(:’3 」∠)_
> 
> Title in reference to a panel from Horribleville by [KC Green,](http://kcgreendotcom.com) which I will probably love forever. He's one of my favourite (web)comic artists, check him out if you like dark humour maybe.  
> 


	12. Take Me Down At The Ball Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien recruits Marinette's help getting around school, they get overly competitive over baseball, and Nino is in distress over Alya attacking his maiden purity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how France sports class works, this is all based on my (Canadian) physical education class experience. Apologies in advance for any inaccuracies, which I would still like to hear about out of curiosity.

**Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:45am]**  
Mari?

 **Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:46am]**  
My Lady?

> **[7:46am]**  
>  chaton if this is abt coffee again istg

**Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:46am]**  
No but I need help pls save me

> **[7:46am]**  
>  chaton if you're being melodramatic again istg

**Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:47am]**  
How insulting! There is not a melodramatic bone in my body, I am totally situationally appropiate at all times. Anyway do you remember how you had to carry me home last night?

 **Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:47am]**  
Which was amazing btw I felt like an Actual Disney Princess.

> **[7:48am]**  
>  you p much are but what are you getting at- tikki says sorry again btw

**Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:48am]**  
You have shown me the world, ma belle. Sparkling. Shimmering. Shining.

 **Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:48am]**  
Tell her thanks and that it's okay, please. Plagg just keeps laughing...

 **Baedrien ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) [7:48am]**  
So I think I'm going to need your help with school today.

 

* * *

 

Marinette arrived at school a few minutes early for once, not running with a croissant in her mouth, to find Adrien laying back on the wide school steps banister. As soon as she neared and he saw her, he shifted to lay on his side, holding up his head on one palm. He took on a smouldering expression and said in a deep, throaty voice, "Hey, you."

It might have had an effect on her if he didn't lose his balance trying to lean closer right after, flailing.

"Adrien," she said sternly, biting her lip to keep from laughing as she steadied him, hands around his back. "Don't drink and model."

He wrapped his arms around her neck and swooned. "Ah, but Marinette, the only intoxicant I have had is your presence. That I would not surrender for my very life, heady and overwhelming as it is! My loins quiver at your sight!"

She burst out laughing. "Your loins quiver?"

"They do! They quiver like jelly— during an earthquake, because," he winked. "You rock my world."

"I can't believe I ever thought you were cool."

"You thought I was cool? Aw, bugaboo... That's so embarrassing," he said, affecting the deepest sympathy.

"I can push you off the banister, you know," she slid her hands back from his upper back. He squirmed noticeably as she rubbed his sides. "Or... Tickle you off."

"I-I'm not tick- HUEHE-"

"What was that?!" Marinette grinned at the loud, sudden, high pitched giggles that mostly came from his nose.

He pouted at her. "Hey, don't _kick-le_ a man while he's down."

"And whose fault is that, Mr. I'll Just Go For A Nice Leisurely Suicide Run? How are your legs? Did you take an epsom salt bath last night like I said?"

"Yeah, but I still almost fell just getting down the house stairs," Adrien grumbled.

"Which is why you need my help, I get it now," she said. "Alright, we should get to the locker room. Let go of my neck so I can turn around."

"What? Why?"

"Sooo... I can give you a piggyback ride?"

"Carry me bridal style?" He batted his eyelashes.

Marinette rolled her eyes with a smirk and obliged. If Adrien was swooning before, he really hammed it up now, throwing his head back as he cried out, "Oh, my loins! They are ablaze! Ablaze and aquiver!"

She lost it, doubling over and making him hold even tighter. "Don't- Don't make me laugh so hard, I'll drop you."

It was then Nino and Alya came up to them. They looked at each other before looking at their slim, petite friend laughing like a loon as she effortlessly held her considerably taller and heavier boyfriend in a groom's carry while he admired her with some serious bedroom eyes.

"Ohhhhkay," Alya gestured in a wide circle to the indicate the pair in general. "Whaaaat is going on here."

"And since when could you bench press Adrien?" Nino stared. "Especially since he's been looking like he won't get blown away in a sudden gust lately."

"Come on, I don't know that I could bench press him," Marinette managed through lingering giggles.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, my dear. If not by sheer strength, then by the power of love," Adrien said huskily.

Marinette bit her lip to keep from laughing, trying to avert her gaze from his half lidded one. "I can't, I can't even look at you right now."

"Girl's been carrying around bulk sacks of flour since she's been able to," Alya crossed her arms and grinned with pride. "Her papa used to tease her about it and you know how she is about a challenge. Besides, the terrace she chills out on? You gotta open the skylight then pretty much do a pull-up. That is not the weird part, the weird part is your boy."

"Hey! That's- that's fair," Nino cocked his head. "Bro, what the fuck?"

"I, er... overdid leg day."

"Pfft. This kid, tryna make it sound cool, you played too much DDR again, didn't you?" Nino turned to the others. "He has an honest to god Dance Dance Revolution arcade machine in his room."

"Haha... Yeah. Love that thing. Got a liiittle caught up in beating high scores last night. Is all," Adrien chuckled weakly and averted his eyes from Alya's deeply suspicious ones.

They climbed to the school steps and made their way to the locker room, Adrien looking gleeful all the while. Nino had a kazoo in his mouth from only god knows where, it was just there once everyone looked at him again. Alya threw up her arms, "Seriously, babe? How many of these do you have? I've taken away like, eight already!"

Say what you want about the state of Nino's physical fitness, he could play 'Here Comes the Bride' perfectly while sprinting around up and down the stairs to avoid his girlfriend. Even playing the wind instrument, Alya had to stop and catch her breath before he did.

"They're ridiculous," Marinette giggled as Adrien laughed. Nino didn't stop until they were in the locker room. Though their lockers were away from each other, all three noticed Chloé approach Marinette, trying to look around as casually as she could for anyone watching. The squad ducked behind the bank of lockers by Marinette's and took a sneaky peek around the corner.

"Here," Chloé tossed Marinette a small bottle when they were near. "What you call remover was like industrial paint stripper. While _yours_ might be, my skin's not like some disgusting troll hide, it was ravaged. Besides, I don't want you thinking I'm in your debt or anything."

Marinette looked at the expensive product with a raised brow. "Well. Rudeness aside, this is pretty nice of you, thanks. Plus, I can always come to you more since you must get these in industrial quantities with your eyeshadow."

Chloé scoffed, though Marinette didn't miss the way one corner of her mouth raised. She was about to turn and leave when Marinette added, "Hey... You mentioned getting tutors? That's cool of you. I noticed you've been needing less help lately."

She got a non-commital 'hmph' in response and Chloé left.

She was ambushed by the squad as soon as the girl was out of earshot. Nino's arms slowly extended with a, "WWHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA????"

"MARI," Adrien squeezed her cheeks. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS? THAT IS THE CHLOÉ FRIENDSHIP RITUAL."

"That- that's," Alya pointed at the eye makeup remover. "A weird peace offering thing, coming from her, right? This... You're frenemies now. Frenemies with the queen bee, my god."

Adrien nodded, looking so happy he could cry. "Nii-chan's so proud. I'm sorry, I need a moment. That was so beautiful."

He huddled into Nino's chest and the latter patted his back, making soothing sounds. "Do you need a shower? You're having a lot of emotions right now." Adrien shook his head in his chest.

"That's... Cool," Marinette said, stowing the proverbial olive branch of a bottle in her locker. "I guess I'm glad."

Nino began playing 'Sympathy for the Devil' over Adrien's shoulder. With two kazoos in his mouth.

"Seriously?" Alya said, slumping. "Why two? How two?"

Through his dual wielded kazoos, Nino paused to respond, "Full ftereo efferience." He ignored the latter question. He gave the full stereo experience playing 'Here Comes the Bride' again, walking ceremoniously in front of Adrien and Marinette as she carried him to class in the same way as before. She had pointed out that, with his stupid (um, no, super handsome, he protested) tall stature, it would mean taking up the whole width of the stairs. His feet bumped the railing a few times as she tried not to hit his head. Thankfully, the other students simply stood aside, too amused to be salty over the inconvenience, and waited for the stairs to be free again, some clapping politely and offering congratulations.

When she finally crossed the threshold of the class with him, Nino outstretched his arms to present them with a honking three kazoo "Doo-doot!"

Rose screamed in delight. Marinette buried her face in Adrien's neck to mutter, "God, why."

Rose's screaming intensified.

"I'm going to have to pat you down to find out where you're keeping those," Alya shook her head with a tight-lipped smile at her boyfriend.

Nino gasped through his kazoos, causing a weak, prolonged honk with his inhalation, and drew his arms and a leg into his torso in a gesture of protecting his virtue. "You animal!"

By the time everyone was seated, he had, without any of them seeing how or where, put the kazoos away again. When Marinette put Adrien back down on his feet, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and sighed, "My hero."

"More like your Hulk," Chloé chimed in. "Do me a favour, if you burst into a disgusting mass of muscles, don't do it around me. Well, your clothes getting ripped wouldn't be a waste, at least."

Marinette put her hands on her hips. "Oh, I'm sure helping Adrien around doesn't mean I'm any more muscular than you are, considering how large of an ego you carry around every day."

The rest of the class present tensed.

Chloé simply went back to her nails as Marinette sat down. Ivan leaned down from his desk to stick his head between her and Alya. "What's happening?"

"Sorry, Ivan, this morning is just as confusing for me as it is for you," Alya said.

A kazoo honked in agreement.

Alya dove across her desk with no warning, tackling Nino to the ground. He made high pitched squealing sounds, yelling for help, "You beastly creature! I must keep my virtue intact until the consummation of my distantly future betrothal! Will no one help me?!"

Mrs. Bustier came in, giving them a cursory glance before walking on. The rest of the class went about their business as well, including their best friends.

"No! The kazoo of my purity!"

Alya pocketed it and sat back down in her seat with a grin and huff of pride. "Mine now."

"Joke's on you, I have thirty-nine more," he said, brushing himself off as the bell rang. He seated himself as Mrs. Bustier called for the class to begin and turn to chapter twelve.

 

* * *

 

The rest of the class seemed to become increasingly impressed with Marinette effortlessly carrying Adrien around, through the halls between classes and up and down the stairs to get to the lockers. It inspired an attempt by Alix to carry Kim, which lasted about a second before she dropped him right onto his tailbone.

Meanwhile, Adrien's loins were apparently becoming increasing beleaguered. By the last period before lunch, they were aquiver, ablaze, tingling, electrified, and shuddering. "Kiss it better, fair saviour?"

"My lips are _not_ going anywhere _near_ your loins. What are you and your loins going to do for next period, anyway? We have sports."

"Oh. Oh, no. I forgot."

Just getting changed into gym clothes was an Olympian attempt. Mr. D'Argencourt was notoriously strict but did have enough mercy on his best fencer to instruct him through stretches that should help with recovery while the others had to do their warmup run then get equipment out and set up in the courtyard.

"Baseball?"

"Yes, Agreste, it is our next unit. Now join the others, you are still not excused from class."

Adrien kept a groan down and simply said, "Yes, sir."

He lined up besides Marinette, blanching when he was put on blue team while she was on red. "Uh oh."

"What's the matter, kitty? I thought you liked our little sports class competitions," she muttered, smirking up at him.

He gulped, hissing back with more than a little pout in his voice, "My lady, come on, go easy just this once? You know the sorry state of my poor self, and something tells me you have a good throwing arm."

"Maybe," she hummed. "Then again, I have the feeling you've got quite a swing and aim to go with it."

"Of course," he muttered. "I just need a home run and I can walk the bases."

"If you can hit the ball."

They exchanged devious grins.

Marinette was sure to secure the pitching position for when red team fielded. She threw softballs for the rest of the class, even when her team was down. That is, until Adrien was at bat. He twirled the thing with a flourish until he had to roll his shoulder with a wince and an, "Ah, ah, ahhhh!"

She rolled her eyes with a grin, saying to herself, "Silly cat."

Then she threw the ball so fast, Mr. D'Argencourt, as umpire, went wide eyed catching it. "S-Strike!"

The rest of the class was used to the couple's oddly exclusive insanely challenging performance with each other by now, but this drew audible reactions.

 _"Damn,_ girl, you throw that thing!" Alya cheered even from the blue team's lineup.

"Shit, Mari, I didn't even see that," Nino said as he raised the bill of his (for once, fitting) cap and whistled a note that went low and died as he had to apologize when Mr. D'Argencourt gave him a sharp reprimand for his language.

Adrien narrowed his eyes, rolling his shoulders and stomping his feet. "Oh, it's on now, Dupain-Cheng."

"Let's see what you've got, Agreste." The bases were empty, it didn't mean much for the scores, but this was personal.

"Strike!"

Adrien growled at Marinette's wide smirk, clearly intent on striking him out.

The bat made a loud cracking noise as it made contact with the ball, sending it clear over the front facade of the collège. She and the fielders turned to watch it plunk down into the river. Max commented, "Well, I certainly am not retrieving that."

No one else made any attempt to as Adrien raised his arms in triumph in plodded the bases at a snail's pace. If Marinette had a hat she would have thrown it down and jumped up and down on it. As it was, she just grit her teeth and kicked her shoe to scuff the courtyard surface.

"I'm starting to feel insulted," Juleka said as he finally cleared first base. Mr. D'Argencourt's yell thankfully sped Adrien up into a slightly less sluggish jog.

The next inning saw Marinette manage a hit past Kim at the pitch and would have passed second base as well if anyone but Adrien were the baseman. Marinette muttered darkly as she went back to the lineup, "Stupid Adrien and his stupid reflexes and his stupid long limbs."

"Bruh," Alix agreed with a pat on her arm. "Tall people are the worst."

"They are," Marinette crossed her arms with a huff.

Her stupid tall boyfriend got his comeuppance in the bottom of the ninth, his now wide, toothy grin only fueling her fury. She mouthed, 'Your Chat is showing.'

His grin only widened as he gave an exaggerated shrug.

This piece of shit was going to be struck out if it meant dislocating her shoulder. Her first pitch was her most intense one yet, drawing a grunt from Mr. D'Argencourt and him shaking his mitted hand after announcing, "Strike!"

Adrien just managed to touch the ball enough for her next two pitches for "Foul!" At this point everyone else in the courtyard was watching with with bated breath at the showdown, though red team was far enough ahead that the prospective double didn't matter.

Marinette threw another fastball. Adrien swung, hard.

The bat cracked loudly again as it splintered and the ball went flying, only to hit the back of the collège facade facing the courtyard so that by the time everyone else even saw where the baseball was, it was making it's way back down. In a straight trajectory. Right towards the batter.

The ball hit Adrien in the chest with such force he fell back.

Marinette, Nino, and Mr. D'Argencourt were the first ones to react. Alya went running over, yelling, "GREEEEEN NOOOOO!"

"BRO DON'T DIE ON ME, HOLY FUCK."

Mr. D'Argencourt didn't even bother scolding him for swearing again as he ran through first aid procedure, making sure Adrien wasn't seriously injured. Marinette dropped to her knees beside him, brushing hair out of his face. "Oh my God, are you okay?! I'm so sorry."

Adrien seemed to make some attempt to respond, but only managed a long wheeze. Nino began playing Chopin's somber funeral march through the duck-like tones of two kazoos. Alya gaped at him. "Babe! Not the time!"

"I'm forry," he covered his face with his hands. "Fhis is the only way I know to deal wif fhis grief."

"It's cool. I'm fine. I'm used to Mari bowling me over," Adrien said weakly with a wink. "Though this time wasn't such a _ball."_

She sighed. _"Based_ on that, I guess you are okay."

Adrien chuckled, enough reassurance to draw a smile from Marinette and his best friends. Between seeing just how physically exhausted he had truly been and his injury, Mr. D'Argencourt sent Adrien home with a note that he should rest and avoid strenuous activity, finally granting Adrien's sore muscles and overwhelmed loins a reprieve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was tempted to name this chapter The Loin King.
> 
> Update was delayed this time and will probably take longer in-between in the future because I have no self control and keep making impulsively written one-shots into multiple chapter works. orz
> 
> HEY WHAT'S UP THERE IS NOW [WONDERFUL ART OF NINO GRIEVING OUR FAVOURITE GREEN RANGER](http://booabug.tumblr.com/post/145996131883/kazoo-lord-nino-in-honor-of-green).


End file.
